ORGANIZED   EFFORTS 

FOR  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF 

METHODS   OF   ADMINISTRATION 

IN   THE    UNITED   STATES 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE 
INSTITUTE  FOR  GOVERNMENT  RESEARCH 


STUDIES  IN  ADMINISTRATION 

The  System  of  Financial  Administration  of  Great  Britain 

By  W.  F.  Willoughby,  W.  W.  Willoughby  and  S.  M.  Lindsay 

The  Budget 

By  Ren6  Stourm 
T.  Plazinski.  Translator,  W.  F.  McCaleb,  Editor 

The  Canadian  Budgetary  System 
By  H.  G.  Villard  and  W.  W.  Willoughby 

The  Problem  of  a  National  Budget 

By  W.  F.  Willoughby 

The  Movement  for  Budgetary  Reform  in  the  States 

By  W.  F.  Willoughby 

Teachers'  Pension  Systems  in  the  United  States 
By  Paul  Studensky 

Organized  Efforts  for  the  Improvement  of  Methods  of  Ad- 
ministration in  the  United  States 

By  Gustavus  A.  Weber 

The  System   of   Financial   Administration   of   the   United 
States  (In  preparation) 

PRINCIPLES  OF  ADMINISTRATION 

Principles  Governing  the  Retirement  of  Public  Employees 

By  Lewis  Meriam 

Principles  of  Government  Purchasing 
By  A.  G.  Thomas 

SERVICE  MONOGRAPHS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  GOVERN- 
MENT 

The  United  States  Geological  Survey 
The  Reclamation  Service 

D.  APPLEtON  AND  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS  NEW  YORK 


STUDIES    IN    ADMINISTRATION 

THE    INSTITUTE    FOR    G  O  VE  RNiVf  E1S  T    RESEARCH 

ORGANIZED   EFFORTS 

FOR  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF 

METHODS  OF  ADMINISTRATION 

IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


BY. 

GUSTAVUS  A.  WEBER 


D.    APPLETON  AND   COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  LONDON 

1919 


v 


COPYRIGHT,  1919,  BY 
THE  INSTITUTE  FOR  GOVERNMENT  RESEARCH 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


THE   INSTITUTE   FOR   GOVERNMENT   RESEARCH 

Washington,  D.  C. 


The  Institute  for  Government  Research  is  an  association  of  citizens 
for  cooperating  with  public  officials  in  the  scientific  study  of  adminis- 
trative methods  with  a  view  to  promoting  efficiency  in  government 
and  advancing  the  science  of  administration.  It  aims  to  bring  into 
existence  such  information  and  materials  as  will  aid  in  the  formation 
of  public  opinion,  and  will  assist  officials,  particularly  those  of  the  national 
government,  in  their  efforts  to  put  the  public  administration  upon  a 
more  efficient  basis. 

To  this  end,  it  seeks  by  the  thoroughgoing  study  and  examination  of 
the  best  administrative  practice,  public  and  private,  American  and 
foreign,  to  formulate  those  principles  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  all  sound 
administration,  and  to  determine  their  proper  adaptation  to  the  specific 
needs  of  our  public  administration. 

The  accomplishment  of  specific  reforms  the  Institute  recognizes  to 
be  the  task  of  those  who  are  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  legislation 
and  administration;  but  it  seeks  to  assist,  by  scientific  study  and  research, 
in  laying  a  solid  foundation  of  information  and  experience  upon  which 
such  reforms  may  be  successfully  built. 

While  some  of  the  Institute's  studies  find  application  only  in  the  form 
of  practical  cooperation  with  the  administrative  officers  directly  concerned 
many  are  of  interest  to  other  administrators  and  of  general  educational 
value.  The  results  of  such  studies,  the  Institute  purposes  to  publish 
in  such  form  as  will  insure  for  them  the  widest  possible  utilization. 

Officers 

Robert  S.  Brookings,  Frank  J.  Goodnow,  James  F.  Curtis, 

Chairman  Vice-Chairman  Secretary 

Frederick  Strauss, 
Treasurer 

Trustees 

Edwin  A.  Alderman  Felix  Frankfurter  A.  Lawrence  Lowell 

Robert  S.  Brookings  Frank  J.  Goodnow  Samuel  Mather 

James  F.  Curtis  Jerome  D.  Greene  Charles  D.  Norton 

R.  Fulton  Cutting  Arthur  T.  Hadley  Martin  A.  Ryerson 

Raymond  B.  Fosdick         Cesar  Lombard!  Frederick  Strauss 
Theodore  N.  Vail                       Robert  S.  Woodward 

Director 

W.  F.  Willoughby 

Editor 

Lewis  Mayers 


EDITORIAL  PREFACE 

THE  following  volume  is  intended  as  one  of  reference.  Its 
purpose  is  not  to  discuss  principles  nor,  primarily  at  least,  to 
describe  what  has  been  accomplished  by  organized  efforts  for  the 
improvement  of  methods  of  public  administration  in  the  United 
States.  Its  principal  aim  is  to  furnish  an  account  of  the  organ- 
ized agencies  that  have  been  established  in  recent  years  for  mak- 
ing scientific  studies  of  problems  of  organization  and  administra- 
tion with  a  view  to  bringing  about^more  efficient  methods  in  the 
conduct  of  public  business,  and  of  making  known  the  character 
of  the  exceedingly  valuable  material  that  has  resulted  from  these 
studies.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  hoped  that,  as  an  incidental 
product,  additional  stimulus  and  encouragement  will  be  given  to 
the  general  movement  for  introducing  scientific  methods  not  only 
into  public  administration  itself,  but  to  the  study  of  the  princi- 
ples which  lie  at  the  basis  of  good  government. 

To  keep  the  volume  within  reasonable  limits,  it  has  been 
thought  best  to  restrict  its  scope  to  organizations  and  agencies 
whose  chief  if  not  exclusive  interest  is  in  the  technique  of  ad- 
ministration, rather  than  in  the  larger  problems  of  politics.  The 
interest  of  associations  like  the  American  Political  Science  Asso- 
ciation, the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 
and  the  New  York  Academy  of  Political  Science,  extends  to  the 
whole  field  of  scientific  political  thought,  and  only  incidentally 
and  casually  to  the  practical  problems  of  public  administration. 
Other  societies  like  the  American  Society  of  International  Law 
and  the  American  and  State  Bar  Associations,  have  a  more  lim- 
ited field,  but  they  also  are  able  to  devote  but  a  partial  interest  to 
questions  of  administration.  The  Short  Ballot  Association  puts 
forth  a  program  which  it  is  believed  will  at  once  improve  the 
average  character  of  persons  elected  to  public  office,  and  tend 
to  improve  administrative  processes  by  securing  a  better  inte- 
gration of  the  administrative  services;  but  its  primary  interest 
is  in  the  political  machinery  of  elections.  Again,  the  work  of 

vii 


EDITORIAL  PREFACE 

not  a  few  important  scientific  associations,  which  are  not  pri- 
marily political,  none  the  less  often  has  a  political  character,  and 
their  publications  not  infrequently  include  papers  dealing  with 
problems  of  public  administration.  Such  societies  are  the  Ameri- 
can Economic  Association,  the  American  Sociological  Society,  the 
American  Historical  Association,  not  to  mention  many  others. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  if  an  adequate  account  were 
given  of  the  incidental  contributions  of  these  scientific  societies 
to  the  movement  for  the  improvement  of  methods  of  public  ad- 
ministration in  this  country,  a  separate  volume  would  be  required. 
It  has,  therefore,  been  thought  best,  as  has  been  said,  to  confine 
this  report  to  agencies  whose  work  is  not  general  or  political, 
but  which  have  for  their  immediate  aim  the  bringing  about  of 
improved  methods  in  public  administration  in  the  United  States. 

So  various  have  been  the  forms  assumed  by  these  agencies  for 
the  improvement  of  administrative  methods  that  satisfactorily  to 
classify  them  is  no  easy  task.  Several  broad  lines  of  classifica- 

\tion  may  however  readily  be  discerned.  Thus  the  agencies  may 
be  classified  as  to  whether  they  are  official  or  unofficial,  or,  as  in 
the  case  of  leagues  of  municipalities,  what  might  be  called  semi- 
official.  Again,  they  may  be  classified  as  to  their  type  of  activity 
— that  is,  whether  they  merely  furnish  opportunity  for  the  ex- 
change of  information  and  ideas  among  persons  interested,  by 
means  of  publications  or  conferences,  or  furnish  information  or 
**?  advice  on  request,  or  themselves  originate  inquiries  and  attempt 
to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  views  or  principles  developed,  or, 
as  in  the  case  of  certain  official  agencies,  have  legal  power  to  re- 
quire their  adoption/  Still  another  line  of  cleavage  is  between 
';  agencies  seeking  reform  in  legislative  methods  and  those  seeking 
it  in  judicial  and  administrative  methods/ 

In  determining  what  should  be  embraced  in  the  limits  of  this 
volume,  agencies  devoting  themselves  solely  to  questions  of  judi- 
cial administration  were  regarded  as  representing  too  specialized 
an  interest  to  be  appropriate  for  inclusion  here.  Again,  in  the 
legislative  field,  agencies  concerned  chiefly  with  the  content  of 
legislative  measures  or  the  records  of  individual  legislators — as 
voters*  leagues,  citizens'  unions,  etc. — have  been  excluded  as  hav- 
ing no  primary  concern  with  the  technique  of  legislative  methods. 
Within  the  field  of  administration  proper,  moreover,  no  ac- 

viii 


EDITORIAL  PREFACE 

count,  but  merely  a  listing,  has  been  attempted  of  those  organiza- 
tions whose  regular  program  embraces  no  more  than  the  publica- 
tion of  papers  contributed  by  the  membership,  or  other  interested 
persons,  or  the  holding  of  occasional  conferences. 

Primarily,  therefore,  the  volume  is  devoted  to  those  agencies 
which  seek  the  improvement  of  methods  of  public  administration 
(other  than  judicial)  by  the  conduct  of  systematic  inquiries, 
through  staffs  specially  employed  for  the  work.  In  giving  ac- 
count of  these  agencies  distinction  has  been  drawn  between  those  / 
which  merely  furnish  information  on  inquiry — that  is,  reference  / 
libraries  and  bureaus — and  those  which  themselves  project  and 
initiate  investigations..  In  the  latter  class,  distinction  is  again 
drawn  between  those  agencies,  both  official  and  unofficial,  whose 
function  exhausts  itself  in  the  making  of  recommendations — that 
is,  research  agencies — and  those'  few  official  agencies  which  pos- 
sess legal  power  to  translate  their  findings  into  action,  agencies 
herein  termed  "central  organs  of  administrative  control."/Lastly, 
among  research  agencies  themselves,  those  which  are  interested  J 
only  in  one  phase  of  administrative  reform — as  the  civil  service 
reform  association — are  distinguished  from  those  which  take  the 
whole  field  of  public  administration  for  their  province./ 

In  addition  to  these  agencies  for  administrative  reform,  which 
occupy  the  bulk  of  the  volume,  account  is  given  of  the  bill- 
drafting  services  which  have  been  established  in  a  number  of 
states  within  recent  years.  While  not  strictly  agencies  for  the 
improvement  of  legislative  methods  so  much  as  themselves  agen- 
cies employing  improved  methods  in  the  framing  of  legislation, 
their  basic  relation  to  the  problem  of  improving  administrative 
methods  has  seeemd  to  warrant  their  inclusion. 

In  the  case  of  all  the  research  agencies  treated  the  attempt 
has  been  made  to  describe  the  history,  organization  and  activities 
and  to  list  the  publications  of  each  agency  separately.  This  has 
not  been  feasible  in  the  case  of  all  the  other  agencies.  In  some 
cases  we  have  had  to  content  ourselves  with  a  consideration  of 
them  as  a  class,  though  what  is  believed  to  be  a  substantially 
complete  list  of  such  agencies  has  in  all  cases  been  given.  Even 
with  respect  to  the  accounts  given  the  agencies  for  research  in 
government,  it  should  be  said  that  considerable  difficulty  was 
encountered  in  securing  all  the  data  desirable,  and  it  is  quite 

ix 


EDITORIAL  PREFACE 

likely  that  there  are  cases  where  the  account  given  does  not  give 
full  credit  for  work  done. 

The  account  given  of  the  Institute  for  Government  Research 
consists  of  a  reproduction  of  a  paper  read  by  its  Director  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  American  Political  Science  Association 
in  December,  1917,  the  use  of  which  was  kindly  authorized  by 
that  association. 

W.  F.  WlLLOUGHBY. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION:  THE  MODERN  MOVEMENT  FOR  EFFICIENCY  IN 
THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS  .         .  i 

PART  I.  AGENCIES  FOR  RESEARCH  IN  GOVERNMENT 

I.  AGENCIES  FOR  STUDYING  PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION  GENERALLY: 
UNOFFICIAL     (THE     INSTITUTE     FOR     GOVERNMENT 

RESEARCH)      .  .        .        .  .      29 

II.  AGENCIES  FOR  INVESTIGATING  THE  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRA- 
TION: OFFICIAL  ...  -44 

Bibliography  of  Congressional  Inquiries,  1 789-191 1 .          .       45 

Select  Committee  on  Methods  of  Business  in  the  Execu- 
tive Departments  (Cockrell  Committee),  1887-1889  57 

Joint  Commission  on  Executive  Departments,  Organiza- 
tion, etc.  (Dockery-Cockrell  Commission),  1893-1895  66 

Committee  on  Department  Methods  (Keep  Committee), 

1905-1909  ....  -74 

President's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency, 

1910-1913  ......  .84 

United  States  Bureau  of  Efficiency,  1913        .         .         .104 

III.  AGENCIES    FOR    INVESTIGATING    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF 

PARTICULAR  STATES:   OFFICIAL 114 

New  Jersey:  Economy  and  Efficiency  Commission  .  .115 
Massachusetts:  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency  119 
New  York:  Committee  of  Inquiry  to  Investigate  the 

Administration  of  the  State  Government  .  .  .126 
New  York:  Department  of  Efficiency  and  Economy  .  128 
Pennsylvania:  Economy  and  Efficiency  Commission  .  133 
Illinois:  Efficiency  and  Economy  Committee .  .  .  134 
Minnesota:  Efficiency  and  Economy  Commission  .  144 

Minnesota:      Commission    on    Reorganization    of    Civil 

Administration      ....... 

Iowa:  Joint  Committee  on  Retrenchment  and  Reform  .  147 
Connecticut:  State  Commission  on  the  Consolidation  of 

State  Commissions  and  the  Reorganization  of  the 

Public  Health  Laws 149 

Kansas:    Efficiency  and  Economy  Committee         .         .15° 
xi 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEfc  PAGE 

Alabama:  Legislative  Investigating  Committee  .  .151 
Colorado:  Survey  Committee  of  State  Affairs  .  .152 
Virginia:  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency  .  .154 
Louisiana:  Board  of  State  Affairs  ....  157 
Texas:  Joint  Legislative  Investigating  Committee  .  158 
Oregon:  Consolidation  Commission  .  .  .  159 

Other  States 161 

IV.  AGENCIES    FOR    INVESTIGATING    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF 

PARTICULAR  STATES:   UNOFFICIAL    .         .         .         .         .162 

New  Jersey:   Bureau  of  State  Research,  State  Chamber  of 

Commerce   ........     162 

Maryland:  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency  .  166 
Other  States  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .166 

V.  AGENCIES  FOR  INVESTIGATING  THE*  STATE  AND  LOCAL  AD- 
MINISTRATION OF  PARTICULAR  STATES:  UNOFFICIAL    .        .167 
Ohio:    Institute  for  Public  Efficiency    .         .         .         .167 
Maryland:   Bureau  of  State  and  Municipal  Research         .     171 

VI.  AGENCIES     FOR     STUDYING     MUNICIPAL     ADMINISTRATION 

GENERALLY:   UNOFFICIAL 173 

New  York:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research      .         .         .173 

VII.  AGENCIES    FOR    INVESTIGATING    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF 

PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 191 

Boston,  Mass. :   Finance  Commission  of  1907-1909  .         .  191 

Boston,  Mass. :   Permanent  Finance  Commission     .         .  194 

Chicago,  111. :  Commission  on  City  Expenditures  .  .  200 
Chicago,  111.:  Efficiency  Division  of  the  Civil  Service 

Commission          .......  201 

Milwaukee,  Wis.:    Bureau  of  Economy  and  Efficiency 

and  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research ....  204 

New  York,  N.  Y. :  Commissioner  of  Accounts  .  .  206 
Other  Municipalities  .  .  .  .  .  .  .210 

VIII.  AGENCIES    FOR    INVESTIGATING    THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF 

PARTICULAR  CITIES:   UNOFFICIAL 212 

Philadelphia,  Pa. :  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  .  .213 
Cincinnati,  Ohio:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  .  .220 
Chicago,  111.:  Bureau  of  Public  Efficiency  .  .  .223 
Dayton,  Ohio:  Bureau  of  Research  ....  230 
Milwaukee,  Wis.:  Citizens'  Bureau  of  Municipal 

Efficiency 238 

Minneapolis,  Minn.:    Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  of 

the  Minneapolis  Civic  and  Commerce  Association       .     242 
Springfield,  Mass.:   Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  .         .     247 
Akron,  Ohio:    Bureau  of  Municipal  Research          .         .     250 
xii 


CONTENTS 

iPTER  PAGE 

Toronto,  Canada:    Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  .         -255 
.Denver,    Colo.:     Civic  and  Legislative  Bureau   of   the 

Denver  Civic  and  Commercial  Association       .         .258 
Rochester,  N.  Y. :    Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  .         .     260 
San  Francisco,  Cal.:    Bureau  of  Government  Research   .     263 
Detroit,  Mich.:    Bureau  of  Governmental  Research         .     265 
Toledo,  Ohio:    Public  Research  Bureau:    Toledo  Com- 
merce Club  ........     266 

Yonkers,  N.  Y.:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  .  .  267 
Indianapolis,  Ind. :  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research  of 

the  Indianapolis  Chamber  of  Commerce  .  .  .269 
Columbus,  Ohio:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  .  .  270 
Memphis,  Tenn.:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  .  .  270 
Petersburg,  Va. :  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research  .  271 

IX.  AGENCIES   TO   INVESTIGATE   THE   ADMINISTRATION    OF    PAR- 
TICULAR COUNTIES:    UNOFFICIAL 272 

Westchester  County,  N.  Y. :  Research  Bureau  .  .  272 
Alameda  County,  Calif.:  Tax  Association  .  .  .276 
Hudson  County,  N.  J.:  Citizens  Federation  .  .  .278 


PART  II.  ORGANS  OF  CENTRAL  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

X.  ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL  IN  THE  STATES  .  .283 
California:  State  Board  of  Control  ....  284 
Wisconsin:  State  Board  of  Public  Affairs  .  .  .288 
Massachusetts:  Supervisor  of  Administration  .  .291 

Illinois:   Department  of  Finance 296 

Tennessee:   State  Budget  Commission  ....     298 
Other  States       ........     299 

XL  ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL  IN  CITIES  .         .         .     301 
New  York,  N.  Y. :   Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment    301 


PART  III.  LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND  BILL-DRAFTING 

AGENCIES 

XII.  THE     PROBLEM     OF     LEGISLATIVE     REFERENCE     AND     BILL- 
DRAFTING  SERVICE 313 

XIII.  AGENCIES  FURNISHING  LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND  BILL- 
DRAFTING  SERVICE         .         .         .         .         .         .         .327 

Alabama:    Department  of  Archives  and  History     .         .327 
Arizona:    State  Law  and  Legislative  Reference  Library  .     328 
California:    Legislative  Counsel  Bureau         .         .         .329 
Illinois:    Legislative  Reference  Bureau  .         .         .         .     330 

xiii 


[TS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Indiana:    Legislative  and  Statistical  Bureau  .         .         .332 
Kansas:    State  Library:    Legislative  Reference  Depart- 
ment   333 

Maryland:  Department  of  Legislative  Reference      .          .     333 
Michigan:    State  Library:    Legislative  Reference  Depart- 
ment .  .  ...     334 
Missouri:     Library  Commission:     Legislative  Reference 

Department 336 

Montana:    State  Library:    Historical  and  Miscellaneous 

Department:  Legislative  Reference  Bureau  .  .337 
Nebraska:  Legislative  Reference  Bureau  .  .  -337 
New  Hampshire:  State  Library:  Legislative  Reference 

Bureau 339 

North   Carolina:     Historical   Commission:     Legislative 

Reference  Department  ......     339 

North  Dakota:   Public  Library  Commission:    Legislative 

Reference  Bureau          ......     340 

Ohio:    State  Board  of  Library  Commissioners:    Legisla- 
tive Reference  Department     .....     341 

Pennsylvania:  Legislative  Reference  Bureau  .         .         .     343 
Rhode  Island:     State  Library:     Legislative   Reference 

Bureau 345 

South  Dakota:    State  Library:    Division  of  Legislative 

Reference     ........     346 

Vermont:   State  Library :   Legislative  Reference  Bureau  .     347 
Virginia:    Legislative  Reference  Bureau          .         .         .     348 
West  Virginia:     Department  of  Archives  and  History: 

Legislative  Reference  Section          ....     349 

Wisconsin:      Free    Library    Commission:      Legislative 

Reference  Department  .         .         .         .         .         .350 

XIV.  LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  SERVICES 353 

United     States:      Library    of     Congress:      Legislative 

Reference  Division         .          .          .          .          .          -353 

California:       State     Library:       Legislative     Reference 

Department 357 

Connecticut:      State    Library:      Legislative    Reference 

Department          ...  .  -357 

Georgia:    State  Library:    Legislative  Reference  Depart- 
ment .......  .     358 

Iowa:     State  Library:    Law  and  Legislative  Reference 

Department          .         .         .         .         .         .         -359 

Maine:   State  Library:   Legislative  Reference  Bureau      .     359 

Massachusetts:     State  Library:     Legislative  Reference 

Department          ....  .360 

New  Jersey:    State  Library:    Legislative  Reference  De- 
partment    .....  .     360 

xiv 


CONTENTS 

IAPTER  PAGE 

New    York:      State    Library:      Legislative    Reference 

Section         ........  361 

New -York:   Legislative  Library     .         .         .         .         .363 

Oregon:    State  Library         .         .         :         .         .         .363 

Texas:    State  Library:    Legislative  Reference  Section     .  363 

XV.  BILL-DRAFTING  SERVICES 365 

Connecticut        ........  365 

Massachusetts    ........  366 

New  York  .........  366 

New  York:    Columbia  University:    Legislative  Drafting 

Bureau         ........  367 

Wyoming 371 

Other  States 371 


xv 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  MODERN  MOVEMENT  FOR  EFFICIENCY  IN 
THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS 

BY 

W.  F.  WILLOUGHBY 


ORGANIZED   EFFORTS  FOR  THE 

IMPROVEMENT  OF   METHODS 

OF  ADMINISTRATION 

INTRODUCTION 

At  the  time  the  federal  constitution  was  adopted,  more 
than  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  ago,  the  one  great 
political  problem  which  the  men  of  that  time  felt  called  upon 
to  solve  was  to  obtain  a  form  of  government  which,  on  the 
one  hand,  would  have  sufficient  power  and  be  so  organized 
that  it  could  maintain  domestic  order  and  afford  protection 
against  foreign  aggression,  and  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  sub- 
ject the  liberty  and  freedom  of  the  individual  to  a  minimum 
of  interference  and  control.  The  idea  dominant  was  to  keep 
the  sphere  of  governmental  activities  as  limited  as  possible  and 
so  to  distribute  the  political  powers  that  were  granted  that 
they  would  check  or  balance  one  another,  and  thus  tend  to 
prevent  the  assumption  and  exercise  by  any  one  official  or 
branch  of  the  government  of  undue  authority.  Compara- 
tively little  emphasis  was  laid  upon  the  problem  of  bringing 
into  existence  an  efficient  system  of  government  from  the  mod- 
ern viewpoint  since  it  was  the  expectation  that  the  govern- 
ment would  in  fact  have  but  few  positive  duties  to  perform. 

Such  an  ideal  as  this  could  remain  satisfactory  only  so 
long  as  the  functions  of  government  remained  comparatively 
few  and  simple  and  were,  in  fact,  confined  to  what  have  been 
called  police  duties,  using  that  term  in  its  technical  sense. 
Events,  however,  have  entirely  nullified  this  original  concep- 
tion. The  performance  of  the  so-called  essential  functions  of 
government  now  constitute  but  a  relatively  small  part  of  its 
total  activities.  No  longer  is  there  an  a  priori  assumption  j 
that  a  widening  of  the  sphere  of  public  action  is  an  evil.  The 
province  of  government  is  now  held  to  embrace  all  forms  of 

3 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

activities  which  contribute  in  any  way  to  the  promotion  of 
the  public  welfare*^  There  is  hardly  a  field  of  activity  into 
which  our  governments  have  not  entered.  Their  operations 
are  now  on  a  vast  scale  and  require  for  their  performance  or- 
ganizations and  technical  processes  exceeding  in  size  and  com- 
plexity those  of  any  private  undertakings.  Gone  also  is  the 
early  simple  faith  that  there  were  intrinsic  merits  in  demo- 
cratic government  which  could  be  depended  upon  by  their  own 
inherent  force,  as  it  were,  to  provide  a  satisfactory  formula- 
tion and  execution  of  the  popular  will.  Upon  the  contrary  it 
is  now  recognized  that,  if  anything,  a  popularly  controlled 
?  government  is  one  which  is  peculiarly  prone  £0  financial  ex- 
travagance and  administrative  inefficiency,  jltjis  now  seen 
that  our  original  conceptions  regarding  the  benefits  of  the 
separation  of  powers  must  be  radically  revised;  that  the  rigid 
application  of  this  principle  is  no  longer  needed  as  a  protec- 
tion against  a  possible  autocratic  and  oppressive  exercise  of 
power;  that  within  the  administrative  branch  responsibility 
and  power  must  be  more  strongly  centralized  and  a  more  in- 
tegrated system  of  administrative  services  be  built  up./  And, 
finally,  it  has  been  recognized  that  many  of  the  adrninistra- 
tive  tasks  which  the  present  day  government  has  to  perform 
are  highly  technical  in  character,  technical  as  regards  the  in- 
formation that  must  be  at  hand,  and  technical  as  to  the  meth- 
ods of  operation  that  must  be  employed,  and  that  there  are 
no  inherent  reasons  why  officers  of  government  cannot  be  held 
to  the  same  standards  of  efficiency  and  honesty  which  are  ex- 
acted in  the  general  business  world. 

Due  to  an  appreciation  of  these  facts,  the  center  of  inter- 
est and  effort  has  shifted  to  the  obtaining  of  an  efficient  and 
economical  performance  by  governments  of  the  tasks  which 
are  laid  upon  them.  Thus  it  may  be  said  that,  in  its  present 
phase,  the  movement  for  political  reform  is  one  that  lies  very 
largely  in  the  field  of  administration. 

This  change  in  interest  is  clearly  reflected  in  the  literature 
of  political  science  in  all  countries  as  well  as  our  own.  It  is 
well  within  the  memory  of  many  of  us  when  works  upon  the 
government  of  the  United  States  consisted  almost  wholly  of 
commentaries  upon  the  federal  constitution.  As  a  subject  of 
study,  government  was  deemed  to  embrace  little  more  than 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

learning,  usually  by  heart,  the  provisions  of  this  document. 
Of  the  study  of  our  extra-constitutional  and  extra-legal  po- 
litical institutions — parties,  their  organization,  procedure  and 
practices,  and  the  part  that  they  play  in  determining  the  man- 
ner in  which  our  governmental  machinery  actually  works — 
there  was  not  a  trace.  Political  science,  properly  speaking, 
did  not  exist.  Such  questions  as  the  nature  of  the  state,  sov- 
ereignty, the  essential  differences  between  different  types  of 
government,  etc.,  if  they  received  any  attention  at  all,  were 
given  only  incidental  consideration  in  legal  treatises.  Not  the 
first  beginning  was  made  of  the  study  of  problems  of  admin- 
istration, of  the  manner  in  which  Congress  was  organized 
for  the  discharge  of  its  duties,  of  its  rules  of  procedure,  of 
the  organization,  practices  and  procedure  of  the  executive  de- 
partments, of  the  procedure  and -rules  of  the  courts  in  admin- 
istering justice,  etc.  This  was  the  first  stage  in  the  study  of 
government  in  the  United  States — the  stage  in  which  legal 
and  political  thought  was  dominated  by  the  idea  of  natural 
law,  when  our  constitutional  system  was  looked  upon  as  al- 
most flawless,  and  when  the  study  of  politics  was  confined  to 
the  effort  to  learn  in  a  colorless  way  the  mere  structure  or 
framework  of  government  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
put  together. 

In  1867  Walter  Bagehot  published  his  essay  on  The  Eng- 
lish Constitution.  The  appearance  of  this  work  constituted 
a  landmark  in  the  history  of  the  study  of  political  science. 
For  the  first  time  a  thoroughly  satisfactory  attempt  was  made 
to  study  a  governmental  system  from  the  standpoint  of  its 
practical  operation,  to  search  out  the  mainsprings  of  political 
action,  to  make  known  the  significance  of  political  conven- 
tions, practices  and  procedure,  as  distinguished  from  the  for- 
mal rules  determining  the  organization  of  government,  in  a 
word,  tp_study  a  government  as  an_actually  operatinj 
instead  of  as  an  inert  structure.  It  was  not,  however,  until 
after  the  lapse  of  a  considerable  number  of  years  that  any  at- 
tempt was  made  to  do  a  like  work  for  the  United  States.  In 
1885  President  Wilson  published  his  well-known  work  on 
•Congressional  Government,  a  work  modeled  on  the  plan 
oFBagehot's  essay  and  attempting,  and  with  eminent  success, 
,to  do  for  the  United  States  what  that  work  had  done  for 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

the  constitutional  system  of  Great  Britain.  This  was  fol- 
lowed a  few  years  later  by  James  Bryce's  great  work  The 
American  Commonwealth,  the  first  edition  of  which  appeared 

X  in  1888.  From  this  period  also  dates  the  inclusion  in  univer- 
sity curricula  of  advanced  courses  on  comparative  government 
and  political  institutions  and  the  issue  by  universities  of  se- 
rials and  periodicals  dedicated  to  the  publication  of  serious 
studies  in  the  field  of  politics  and  the  allied  sciences.  Among 
the  latter  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  in  Historical 
and  Political  Science,  beginning  in  1882,  was  the  pioneer. 
Without  the  aid  of  the  material  contained  in  these  studies 
James  Bryce  is  reported  to  have  said  that  a  number  of  the 
chapters  of  his  American  Commonwealth  could  not  have  been 

^  written.  In  1886  was  begun  the  publication,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Columbia  University,  of  the  Political  Science 
Quarterly,  a  periodical  which  from  its  establishment  has  had 
the  highest  scientific  character.  Other  serials,  issued  under 
the  auspices  of  universities  and  political  science  associations, 
soon  followed. 

The  appearance  of  these  publications  in  the  eighties  marks 
the  beginning  of  the  second  stage  in  the  study  of  government 
in  this  country.  This  stage  may  be  called  the  stage  of  in- 
terpretive and  critical  study.  Its  predominant  note  was  its 
effort,  not  merely  to  describe,  but  to  interpret  and  to  criticize, 
to  compare  governments  and  political  institutions  with  each 
other,  to  determine  the  significance  of  political  practices.  It 
constitutes  the  period  when  students  began  to  question  whether 
our  constitutional  system  was  in  all  respects  the  perfect  one 
which  it  had  been  held  to  be,  whether  there  were  not  fea- 
tures in  other  governmental  systems  that  were  not  worthy  of 
\  incorporation  in  our  own.  For  the  first  time  our  whole  po- 
litical system  and  scheme  of  government,  national,  state  and 
local,  was  subjected  to  critical  examination  in  the  light  of 
actual  results. 

Great  as  was  the  advance  of  this  stage  over  the  one  that 
had  preceded  it,  it  still  fell  short  of  meeting  the  demand  that 
can  properly  be  put  upon  political  science.  Though  govern- 
mental systems  here  and  abroad  were  subjected  to  the  most 
searching  criticism,  little  or  no  attempt  was  made  to  follow 
up  such  criticisms  with  definite  suggestions  regarding  the  ac- 

6 


INTRODUCTION 

tion  which  should  be  taken  to  remove  the  evils  that  were  re- 
vealed. Students  of  political  science  were  subjected  to  the 
indictment  that  though  fertile  enough  in  criticism  they  were 
barren  in  respect  to  the  indication  of  means  by  which  improve- 
ments might  be  brought  about.  Especially  did  the  field  of  ad- 
ministration as  a  branch  of  political  science  remain  wholly 
uncultivated.  The  actual  administrator  of  public  affairs,  the 
legislator  or  the  executive  officer,  though  he  found  much  of 
interest  and  not  a  little  of  profit  in  the  writings  of  students 
of  politics,  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources  when  it  came 
to  working  out  plans  by  which  concrete  changes  were  to  be 
effected. 

This  indictment  of  students  of  political  science  as  a  body 
no  longer  holds  good.  We  are  to-day  in  the  midst  of  a  period 
when  the  entire  mechanism  of  our  governmental  system,  fed- 
eral, state,  and  local,  is  being  subjected  to  a  detailed  examina- 
tion for  the  purpose,  not  merely  of  criticizing,  but  of  formulat- 
ing definite  proposals  of  reform.  In  contrast  with  the  two 
periods  that  preceded  it,  the  descriptive  and  the  critical,  this 
period  may  be  designated  as  the  period  of  constructive  effort. 
In  entering  upon  this  new  phase  the  study  of  political  science 
may  be  said  to  have  at  last  fully  entered  upon  its  own.  Its 
prime  characteristic  is  that  governmental  institutions  are  be- 
ing taken  up  and  studied  one  by  one  in  the  most  intensive  man- 
ner and  that,  on  the  basis  of  such  study,  concrete  measures 
of  reform  are  being  both  formulated  and  urged  for  adoption. 

How  widely  divergent  is  this  type  of  research  from  the 
traditional  material  of  political  science  is  apparent  from  the 
most  summary  outline  of  its  problems.  The  problem  of 
lie  administration  is  resolvable  into  five  fairly  distinct  parts: 
problems  of  organization,  problems  of  personnel,  problems  of 
material,  problems  of  business  practice  and  procedure,  and 
problems  of  finance.  Each  of  these,  in  turn,  has  its  special 
phases.  For  example,  problems  of  personnel  have  to  do  with 
the  recruitment  of  the  working  force,  how  employees  shall  be 
classified,  the  basis  on  which  their  compensation  shall  be  fixed, 
the  manner  of  determining  their  efficiency  through  the  estab- 
lishment of  efficiency  records  or  otherwise,  and  the  systems  of 
promotions  based  thereon,  what  shall  be  the  working  condi- 
tions of  employees  in  respect  to  such  matters  as  permanency 

7 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

of  tenure,  hours  of  labor,  leave  privileges,  etc.,  and  finally, 
the  provision  that  shall  be  made  in  the  way  of  retirement  al- 
lowances or  pensions  for  those  incapacitated  while  in  the  per- 
formance of  their  duties  or  as  the  result  of  age.  In  like  man- 
ner, problems  of  finance  include  such  questions  as  the  system 
of  handling  and  disbursing  funds,  of  accounting  and  report* 
ing,  of  audit,  and,  most  important  of  all,  of  determining  and 
making  provision  for  the  revenue  and  expenditure  needs  of 
the  several  services  and  of  the  government  as  a  whole,  or,  to 
use  the  expression  now  commonly  employed,  of  the  budgetary 
system  that  shall  be  adopted.  With  the  great  increase  of  the 
operating  functions  of  governments,  especially  as  brought 
about  in  the  national  government  at  least  by  the  increase  in 
the  military  and  naval  establishments,  the  administrative  prob- 
lems connected  with  the  acquirement,  inspection,  transporta- 
tion, warehousing,  distribution  and  accounting  for  supplies 
have  assumed  a  complexity  that  makes  imperative  the  employ- 
ment of  more  systematic  methods  than  have  in  the  past  been 
found,  or  at  any  rate,  been  deemed  adequate. 

These  special  problems  have  been  mentioned  as  merely  il- 
lustrative of  the  complexity  and  importance  of  the  many  prob- 
lems that  must  be  solved  before  the  practical  operation  of 
government  can  be  placed  upon  a  satisfactory  basis.  For  their 
solution,  it  now  is  recognized  that  two  things  are  necessary : 
First,  a  greater  fund  of  exact  information  than  has  heretofore 
been  available;  second,  the  formulation  and  adoption  of 
1  scientifically  determined  principles  of  administrative  organiza- 
tion and  procedure.  The  facts  which  are  needed  include  not 
merely  a  knowledge  of  foreign  systems  which  may  throw 
light  upon  our  own  problems,  but  also  a  knowledge  of  exist- 
ing conditions  in  the  United  States,  that  is,  a  knowledge  based 
upon  exact  and  objective  investigation  and  presented  in  a  log- 
ical and  available  form.  The  adoption  of  proper  principles 
of  administrative  organization  and  procedure  means  that 
methods  will  be  employed  not  merely  because  they  have  the 
sanction  of  long-continued  use,  but  because  they  are  actually 
efficient  and  are  dictated  by  a  scientific  analysis  of  the  nature 
of  the  work  to  be  done. 

Much  the  most  striking  feature  of  this,  the  latest  phase 
of  the  study  of  government,  is  the  extent  to  which  this  study 

8 


INTRODUCTION 

is  being  carried  on  as  the  result  of  orglmizeid  efJSfrt.  The 
past  decade  or  decade  and  a  half  has  'witnessed  the  establish- 
ment of  a  large  number  of  organizations  having  for  their 
primary  or  sole  purpose  the  study  of  problems  of  administra- 
tion, and  generally  the  organization  and  methods  of  admin- 
istration of  a  particular  government,  with  a  view  to  the  de- 
vising and  securing  the  adoption  of  means  by  which  the  or- 
ganization and  methods  of  administration  of  such  government 
might  be  put  upon  a  more  efficient  and  economical  basis. 
These  organizations  have  been  created  under  various  auspices 
and  pursue  quite  varied  methods  in  seeking  to  accomplish 
their  ends.  Some  have  been  established  by  the  governments 
themselves  and  are  thus  of  an  official  character.  Others  have 
been  created  and  financed  by  private  individuals.  Others  still 
represent  merely  the  formation  of  associations  for  the  study 
of  problems  of  government  in  a  particular  field  by  those  who 
are  actually  engaged  in  work  in  such  field,  or  have  made  such 
field  their  special  study.  These  organizations  have  now 
reached  such  a  number,  are  prosecuting  their  work  under  such 
different  circumstances,  and  are  employing  such  diverse  meth- 
ods, that  they  furnish  in  themselves  a  problem  of  efficiency  and 
economy  in  organization  and  administration.  Both  for  this  -s 
reason  and  because  it  is  of  interest  to  make  a  general  presenta-  (,  ^ 
tion  of  work  that  has  been,  and  is  being,  done  in  this  field, 
the  preparation  of  the  present  work  has  been  undertaken. 

Organized  effort  for  the  study  of  problems  of  administra- 
tion has  concerned  itself  with  all  three  of  the  great  branches 
of  government, — the  legislative,  the  judicial,  and  the  execu- 
tive.    In  the  legislative  field  this  effort  has  taken  the  fornTl 
chiefly  of  the  organization  of  what  are  known  as  legislative  /  *  f 
reference  bureaus  and  bill-drafting  services.     These^wTafe/ 
quite  distinct  in  character  and  aim.     The  first  have  for  their' 
purpose  the  assembling  and  rendering  available  of  the  data!; 
that  will  permit  of  more  intelligent  legislation.     The  neces-  \ 
sity  for  their  establishment  arises  from  the  fact  that  legisla- 
tors only  rarely  are  either  in  possession  of  the  knowledge  \ 
which  they  should  have  if  they  are  to  frame  their  measures 
intelligently,  or  have  the  knowledge,  means,  or  time  at  their 
disposal  that  will  -enable  them  to  secure  such   information. 
Under  modern  conditions  few  subjects  can  be  effectively  leg- 

9 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

islated  upon  without  full  knowledge  regarding  not  only  the 
past  legislation  of  the  state  to  be  affected  by  the  legislation 
proposed,  and  of  other  states,  but  of  the  manner  in  which  this 
legislation  has  worked  in  actual  practice.  The  securing  of 
such  information  is  usually  a  matter  of  careful  research  which 
is  beyond  the  resources  of  the  individual  legislator.  For  the 
most  part  it  can  be  promptly  and  efficiently  secured  only  by 
specialists  trained  in  the  making  of  such  inquiries,  and  hav- 
ing at  their  disposal  the  facilities  necessary  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  such  work.  It  is  thus  a  hopeful  sign  that  this  need  is 
being  recognized  and  that  in  response  to  it  organizations  are 
being  created  for  meeting  it. 

A  survey  of  work  that  has  been  done  in  this  field  shows 
that  organizations  of  this  character  have  been  established  un- 
der three  auspices,  the  legislatures  ^or  whose  use  they  are  in- 
tended, state  and  other  libraries,  and  universities.  Which  of 
these  three  represents  the  most  desirable  form  of  action  de- 
pends largely  upon  the  particular  conditions  of  each  case.  Gen- 
erally speaking  it  would  seem  that  a  beginning  can  best  be 
made  where  there  is  a  strong  and  well-organized  library  by 
having  this  work  undertaken  by  such  library.  Later,  if  it  is 
deemed  expedient,  the  work  can  be  given  an  independent  status 
and  organization. 

The  creation  .orf  bill-drafting  services  is  a  tardy  recogni- 
tion of  the  fact  that  a  high  degree  of  technical  skill  is  required 
for  the  proper  drafting  of  legislative  measures.  In  no  small 
degree  the  great  burden  of  litigation  under  which  our  courts 
are  staggering  is  due  to  the  carelessness  with  which  legisla- 
tive acts  are  worded.  When  the  language  employed  is  not 
absolutely  obscure  or  inconsistent  with  itself,  there  is  often  a 
failure  to  recognize  the  necessity  for  precision  in  defining 
the  scope  or  character  of  action  called  for  by  the  act.  An  act 
that  is  declared  to  apply  to  dangerous  occupations  and  makes 
no  adequate  definition  of  what  occupations  shall  be  deemed  to 
be  dangerous,  nor  sets  up  any  rule  or  machinery  by  which 
such  knowledge  may  be  had  is  manifestly  either  unworkable 
or  one  which  throws  a  large  amount  of  work  upon  the  courts. 
Yet  legislation  of  this  character  is  being  constantly  put  upon 
our  statute  books.  Without  enlarging  further  upon  the  errors 
in  draftsmanship  that  may  and  are  constantly  being  made,  it 

10 


INTRODUCTION 

is  sufficient  to  say  that  they  are  of  a  character  that  can  be 
avoided  by  trained  bill  drafters.  If  well-formulated  laws  are 
to  be  had  it  is  imperative,  therefore,  that  the  actual  drafting 
of  acts  shall  be  entrusted  to  persons  of  proved  competence. 
The  most  complete  recognition  of  this  fact  is  presented  by  the 
practice  of  the  British  Parliament,  where  all  measures  are 
either  drawn  by,  or  pass  under,  the  scrutiny  of  the  Office  of 
the  Parliamentary  Counsel.  ^ 

As  in  the  case  of  legislative  reference  bureaus,  efforts  to 
establish  bill-drafting  services  in  this  country  have  taken  vari- 
ous forms.  In  some  cases  legislatures  have  provided  for  the 
establishment  of  a  special  committee  whose  duty  it  is  to  pass 
upon  the  wording  of  all  bills  before  they  are  put  upon  their 
final  passage.  The  committee  may  or  may  not  be  provided 
with  paid  counsel  to  assist  it  in  its  labors.  In  other  words, 
they  have  established  special  services  whose  duty  it  is,  not 
merely  to  scrutinize  bills  prepared  by  members,  but,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  latter,  to  draft  bills  in  the  first  instance.  It  is 
quite  feasible,  and  in  many  respects  desirable,  that  the  same 
service  should  perform  both  the  functions  of  a  legislative  ref- 
erence and  a  bill-drafting  organ.  Where  legislatures  have 
failed  to  act,  bill-drafting  services  have  been  created  under 
private  auspices,  and  particularly  under  that  of  universities, 
the  facilities  of  which  have  been  placed  at  the  disposition  of 
legislators  and  others  desiring  to  frame  measures  of  public 
interest.  Of  services  of  this  character  that  created  by,  or 
under  the  auspices  of,  Columbia  University  is  probably  the 
most  important.  Its  aid  in  drafting  important  legislative 
measures  has  frequently  been  acknowledged. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  field  of  administration  of  justice  we 
find  a  greatly  aroused  determination  on  the  part  of  the  pub- 
lie  to  put  this  important  branch  of  administration  upon  a  more 
efficient  basis.  It  is  true  that  for  years  our  judicial  organiza- 
tion, procedure,  rules  of  evidence  and  procedural  law  gener- 
ally governing  the  adjudication  of  legal  issues  have  been  sub- 
jected to  a  destructive  criticism,  and  that  important  efforts 
have  been  made  by  our  national,  state  and  local  bar  associa- 
tions to  secure  reform  in  respect  to  particular  features  or 
practices.  It  was  not,  however,  until  within  comparatively 
recent  years  that  the  general  public  may  be  said  to  have  been 

ii 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

thoroughly  aroused  to  the  importance  of  the  issues  here  pre- 
sented. From  a  questioning  of  particular  practices,  the  move- 
ment for  reform  has  now  taken  the  form  of  an  examination 
of  the  whole  system  of  administering  justice.  The  demand  is 
being  made  for  a  complete  reorganization  of  our  scheme  of 
courts,  for  a  complete  recasting  of  our  rules  of  procedure. 
Results  of  the  utmost  importance,  moreover,  are  being  ac- 
complished. We  need  but  cite  the  preparation  by  Congress 
of  revised  judicial  and  criminal  codes  of  the  United  States, 
the  elimination  of  the  circuit  courts  from  our  federal  judiciary, 
the  promulgation  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
of  the  revised  rules  of  equity  procedure,  the  establishment 
of  the  new  municipal  court  of  Chicago,  the  changes  in  judicial 
organization  and  procedure,  and  particularly  in  respect  to  the 
operation  of  the  jury  systems,  effected  by  the  recent  revision 
of  the  constitution  of  Ohio,  and  finally  the  revolutionary 
change  in  the  attitude  of  the  courts  themselves  in  respect  to 
weight  given  to  mere  technicalities.  From  the  standpoint  of 
the  present  study  the  most  important  feature  of  this  movement 
is  the  establishment  of  two  national  organizations  having  for 
their  primary  purpose  the  promotion  of  judicial  reform,— 
The  American  Institute  of  Criminal  Law  and  Criminology 
and  the  American  Judicature  Society. 

We  have  thought  it  advisable  in  the  foregoing  to  make- 
mention  at  least  of  the  efforts  now  being  made  to  effect  im- 
provements in  legislative  and  judicial  methods,  since  it  is  an 
essential  part  of  our  purpose  to  bring  out  the  extent  to  which 
not  only  all  branches  of  our  government  are  being  subjected 
to  critical  study,  but  constructive  measures  of  reform  are 
being  both  advocated  and  adopted.  Our  major  interest,  how- 
ever, lies  in  the  great  movement  which  has  come  into  exist- 
ence during  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years  for  the  putting  of 

administrative  branch  of  our  governments,  national,  state 
and  local,  upon  a  more  efficient  and  economical  basis. 

>The  pioneer  in  this  movement  was  the  Bureau  of  Munici- 
pal Research  of  New  York  City,  and  the  movement  itself 
may  be  said  to  date  from  its  establishment  in  1907.  By  this 
statement  there  is  no  desire  to  detract  from  the  great  value 
of  the  work  accomplished  by  such  organizations  as  the  na- 
tional, state  and  local  civil  service  reform  leagues,  and  the 

12 


INTRODUCTION 

National  Municipal  League.     These  organizations,  however, 
differ   radically   in  character,   organization   and   methods   of 
work  frorri  those  which  it  is  our  purpose  to  consider,  and  of  ,    . 
which  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  is  a  lead-' 
ing  example.     Their  function  has  been  primarily  educational. 
They  have  had  no  permanent  staff,  and  no  funds  with  which  to 
prosecute  detailed  investigations  of  conditions  obtaining  in  \/ 
particular  governments  or  particular  branches  of  government. 
It  is  greatly  to  their  credit  that,  within  the  limits  of  their  re- 
sources, they  have  not  only  criticized  existing  conditions  but 
have  pointed  out  the  direction  which   reform  should  take. 
Only  in  small  degree,  however,  have  they  been  able  to  formu- 
late the  specific  means  by  which  the  reforms  advocated  were 
to  be  put  into  execution. 

The  establishment  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 
of  New  York  marks  an  epoch  in  the  movement  for  govern- 
mental reform  in  the  United  States.  Organized  originally 
for  the  purpose  of  making  a  critical  study  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  public  affairs  of  the  city  of  New  York  with  a  view 
to  pointing  out  how  that  administration  might  be  put  upon 
a  more  efficient,  honest  and  economical  basis,  it  became  a 
great  center  for  the  inauguration  of  similar  undertakinj 
throughout  the  country.  To  its  direct  influence  may  bs 
traced  not  only  the  organization  of  similar  bureaus  in  Phila- 
delphia, Cincinnati,  Pittsburgh,  Baltimore  and  many  other 
cities,  and  the  establishment  of  the  Institute  for  Government 
Research  at  Washington,  D.  C,  but  the  creation  of  other  pub- 
lic and  private  agencies  which  have  for  their  purpose  the  in- 
vestigation of  methods  of  administration  of  particular  gov- 
ernments or  particular  services,  and,  on  the  basis  of  such  in- 
vestigation, the  formulation  of  concrete,  constructive  meas- 
ures of  reform. 

So  rapidly  did  the  movement  for  citizen  agencies  extend 
itself,  and  so  numerous  did  these  agencies  become,  that  there 
was  formed  in  1916  a  National  Federation  of  Governmental 
Research  Agencies — since  called  the  Governmental  Research 
Conference  of  the  United  States  and  Canada — having  for  its 
purpose  "the  better  interchange  of  experience"  and  "the  dis- 
cussion of  municipal  and  research  problems"  by  such  agen- 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

cies.  This  organization  has  held  annual  meetings  in  1917  and 
I9I8.1 

The  principle  underlying  all  of  these  undertakings  is  that 
if  results  of  importance  are  to  be  accomplished,  the  govern- 
/  ment  or  service  to  be  inquired  into  must  be  put  upon  the  oper- 
ating-table, dissected  and  studied  in  its  minute^sl-detaij^ of  struc- 
ture; function  and  procedure.  Not  until  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge is  had  of  existing  conditions  can  effective  proposals  for 
change  be  brought  forward.  Every  such  proposal  must  have 
back  of  it  a  convincing  showing  of  existing  defects.  Thoj- 
-  -  ough  investigation  of  existing  conditions  is  thus  the  keynote 
V  V  V  Qf^the  new  meth°d-  The  making  of  such  investigations  re- 
quires a  definite  organization,  adequate  funds  and  a  trained 
personnel. 

Bureaus  of  municipal  research  are  purely  private  under- 
takings. Their  success  naturally  raised  the  question  as  to  the 
desirability  of  governments,  instead  of  waiting  upon  private 
initiative,  themselves  bringing  into  existence  services  through 
which  their  organization,  activities  and  methods  of  business 
might  be  subjected  to  searching  criticism.  This  idea  was  first 
taken  up  by  certain  cities.  Boston  established  its  Finance 
Commission  in  1907,  Chicago,  its  Commission  on  City  Ex- 
penditures  in  1909,  and  Milwaukee,  its  Bureau  of  Economy 

1  At  the  1917  meeting  the  Bureau  of  Government  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Political  Science  of  the  University  of  Michigan  was  desig- 
nated to  act  as  a  central  office  or  clearing  house  for  the  conference 
and  thus  to  furnish  the  means  for  putting  into  effect  the  several 
measures  for  cooperative  work  that  had  been  decided  upon.  This 
office  since  April,  1918,  has  issued  a  monthly  bulletin,  intended  solely 
for  circulation  among  the  member  agencies,  giving  the  work  in 
progress  by  each  of  the  member  research  agencies  and  the  work  com- 
pleted since  the  preceding  issue. 

The  proceedings  of  the  conference  have  largely  been  of  an  in- 
formal character,  though  a  certain  number  of  formal  papers  have 
been  presented.  No  published  report  of  the  proceedings  has,  how- 
ever, been  made. 

The  conference  is  supported  by  the  annual  membership  fees  of 
$15  required  of  each  member  agency,  of  $10  required  of  academic 
bureaus  of  government  research,  and  $5  required  of  individuals 
elected  as  associate  members.  Only  member  agencies,  however,  have 
the  right  to  vote  and  participate  in  the  direction  of  the  conference's 
affairs. 

The  office  of  the  Secretary  and  Treasurer  is  No.  25  Main  Street, 
East  Rochester,  New  York;  and  that  of  the  central  office  and  library, 
Law  Building,  University  of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan, 

H 


INTRODUCTION 

and  Efficiency  in  1911.  This  phase  of  the  movement  received 
its  real  impetus,  however,  through  the  establishment  by  the 
national  government  in  1910  of  what  was  known  as  "The 
President's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency."  The 
commission  received  this  designation  since  funds  for  its  es- 
tablishment were  voted  by  Congress  at  the  request  of  Presi- 
dent Taft,  were  placed  at  his  complete  disposal,  and  were  by 
him  devoted  to  the  establishment  and  support  of  a  commission 
to  which  the  above  name  was  given.  This  lead  of  the  United 
States  government  was  speedily  followed  by  the  governments 
of  a  number  of  states. 

In  the  foregoing  we  have  considered  only  the  work  of 
services  having  for  their  specific  object  the  investigation  and 
reform  of  particular  governments.  Important  as  is  their  work 
they  represent  but  one  phase  of  the  modern  movement  for  gov- 
ernmental efficiency.  In  many  other  directions  the  spirit  of 
this  new  movement  is  manifest.  Many  services  of  our  gov- 
ernment without  waiting  for  the  establishment  of  formal  com- 
missions or  bureaus  have  entered  upon  the  work  of  self- 
analysis  and  improvement.  In  particular  have  great  improve- 
ments been  effected  in  the  offices  of  comptrollers  and  other 
financial  officers  in  the  field  of  public  accounting.  Municipal 
reference  libraries  have  sprung  into  existence,  the  resources  of 
which  are  available  both  to  the  general  student  and  to  the  of- 
ficials of  the  cities  in  which  they  are  located.  Chambers  of 
commerce,  boards  of  trade  and  like  organizations  have  given 
an  attention  to  the  improvement  of  governmental  conditions 
such  as  they  have  never  displayed  in  the  past.  National  as- 
sociations have  been  created  for  the  purpose  of  studying  prob- 
lems of  administration  in  particular  fields.  Among  these  spe- 
cial mention  should  be  made  of  the  National  Association  of 
Comptrollers  and  Accounting  Officers,  and  the  Association  of 
American  Government  Accountants.  The  proceedings  and 
publications  of  these  organizations  are  contributing  greatly 
both  to  the  spread  of  knowledge  regarding  the  technical  prob- 
lems of  administration  and  the  promotion  of  actual  reforms. 
Finally,  the  universities  of  the  land  have  been  quick  to  respond 
to  the  new  spirit.  This  has  been  manifested  in  a  number 
of  ways.  The  fundamental  courses  on  politics  and  govern- 
ment have  been  given  a  much  more  practical  character  than 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

they  previously  had.  New  courses  dealing  directly  with  prob- 
lems of  administration  have  been  added,  and  graduate  stu- 
dents in  politics  have  been  encouraged  to  make  their  researches 
in  the  field  of  administration.  A  significant  feature  of  this 
changed  attitude  is  the  willingness  which  universities  have 
shown  to  have  the  members  of  their  faculties  and  their  gradu- 
ate students  cooperate  directly  in  governmental  research  en- 
terprises. Perhaps  the  most  extensive  undertaking  in  this  di- 
rection is  the  creation  of  the  Training  School  for  Public  Serv- 
ice conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal 
i  Research  of  New  York  City,  which  began  operations  in  1911, 
and  the  attempt  to  devise  plans  by  which  graduate  students 
in  the  departments  of  politics  and  economics  of  universities 
generally  may  be  attached  to  government  services  to  the  double 
end  that  the  government  may  receive  the  advantage  of  their 
services  and  that  the  students  themselves  may  receive  a  prac- 
tical education  in  the  administration  of  public  affairs.  The 
whole  movement  has  gone  far  enough  in  some  instances  as  to 
presage  the  conversion  of  graduate  departments  into  depart- 
ments of  research  analogous  to  those  maintained  by  the  de- 
partment of  the  natural  sciences.  Whatever  the  outcome  the 
universities  will  certainly  perform  the  function  of  training 
schools  for  the  public  service  to  an  extent  never  attempted  by 
them  in  the  past. 

Reverting  from  these  varied  expressions  of  the  newer  in- 
terest in  public  administration  to  the  agencies  specifically  or- 
ganized for  research,  which  it  is  our  particular  purpose  to 
consider,  it  may  be  of  value  to  outline  the  various  forms  of 
organization  and  method  which  may  be  employed  by  such- 
agencies,  both  official  and  private. 

A  government  desiring  to  improve  its  methods  of  admin^ 
istration  may  proceed  in  any  one  or  more  of  the  following 
ways: 

1.  The  whole  work  of  investigation  and  reform  may  be 
left  to  the  individual  services;  or 

2.  The  chief  executive  may,  on  his  own  initiative  or  im 
pursuance  of  special  authority  conferred  upon  him  by  the 
legislature,  proceed  to  an  investigation  and  reform  of  gov- 
ernmental organization  and  methods  generally;  or 

3.  The  legislature  itself  may  undertake  this  work., 


INTRODUCTION 

The  first  of  these  methods  may  be  said  to  be  one  which, 
in  a  certain  sense,  is  always  in  operation.  There  are  few 
services  which  do  not  currently  make  more  or  less  of  an  effort 
to  improve  their  methods  of  administration.  What  is  here 
meant  is  something  different  from  this.  We  have  in  mind 
the  case  where  a  government  becomes  persuaded  that  its  or- 
ganization and  methods  of  business  are  faulty,  and  the  sev- 
eral services  are  charged  with  the  duty  of  making  a  special 
inquiry  into  their  organization  and  administrative  procedure, 
with  the  view  of  making  such  improvements  as  lie  within  their 
power  and  of  recommending  such  action  on  the  part  of  other 
authorities  as  in  their  opinion  is  necessary  in  order  to  accom- 
plish reforms,  the  taking  of  action  in  reference  to  which  lies 
outside  of  the  scope  of  their  authority. 

The  advantages  of  this  method  are  that  responsibility  for 
action  is  thrown  directly  upon  the  services  involved,  that  the 
work  will  be  performed  by  persons  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  conditions,  needs  and  problems  to  be  met,  and  that  the 
work  may  be  prosecuted  at  a  minimum  of  expense.  Opposed 
to  these  obvious  advantages  are,  however,  certain  disadvan- 
tages which  tend  to  set  a  definite  limit  to  the  good  results  that 
may  be  expected  from  this  method.  First  among  these  is 
the  psychological  factor  that  it  is  difficult  to  secure  from  of- 
ficers a  frank  acknowledgment  of  either  their  official  short- 
comings or  those  of  the  services  for  the  conduct  of  which 
they  are  responsible.  In  all  such  inquiries  the  services  are 
in  a  way  put  upon  the  defensive.  There  is  a  strong  tendency 
for  officers  and  employees  alike  to  defend  the  methods  that 
they  have  been  employing.  Officers  are  naturally  reluctant  to 
criticize  the  acts  of  their  associates  and  employees  are  still 
more  reluctant  to  criticize  those  of  their  superiors.  Secondly, 
though  the  persons  making  the  investigation  may  be  familiar 
with  the  methods  investigated,  they  are  not  likely  to  be  fa- 
miliar with  other  methods.  An  officer  may  be  convinced  that 
the  methods  followed  by  his  service  are  thoroughly  satisfac- 
tory because  he  is  in  ignorance  of  other  methods  by  which 
the  same  character  of  work  can  be  more  efficiently  performed. 

The  task  of  improving  governmental  conditions  is  to  too 
great  an  extent  looked  upon  as  one  of  ferreting  out  imper- 
fections. It  is  of  equal  importance  to  discover  superior  meth- 

17 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ods  with  a  view  to  having  them  generally  adopted  when  ap- 
plicable.  This  end  cannot  well  be  attained  when  each  serv- 
ice concerns  itself  with  its  own  affairs  only.  Finally,  there  is 
a  great  field  of  reform  into  which  this  method  can  penetrate 
to  but  a  slight  extent.  In  no  small  degree  existing  defects  in 
administrative  methods  are  due  to  a  faulty  organization  of 
the  administrative  branch  of  the  government  as  a  whole. 
Services  are  not  properly  correlated.  Instead  of  constitut- 
ing parts  of  one  highly  integrated  piece  of  administrative 
mechanism,  they  occupy  more  or  less  independent  positions. 
Power  is  not  logically  distributed.  There  are  too  often  over- 
lapping of  authority  and  duplication  of  organization,  plant, 
rsonnel  and  work.  The  remedying  of  these  imperfections 
s  wholly  beyond  the  power  of  the  services  acting  inde- 
endently  and  concerning  themselves  with  their  own  methods 
and  problems  only. 

We  have  taken  some  pains  to  point  out  the  limitations  of 
this  method  since  the  tendency  has  been  so  strong  in  the  past 
to  rely  upon  it  as  a  means  for  bringing  about  reforms.  It 
is  not  for  a  moment  questioned  that  great  good  can  be  accom- 
plished by  its  employment,  and  that  a  certain  use  should  be 
made  of  it.  At  the  same  time  it  is  well  to  realize  that  really 
important  and  fundamental  reforms  cannot  be  accomplished 
through  its  utilization  alone. 

The  other  two  methods  of  self-investigation  and  reform 
by  a  government,  that  where  the  investigation  is  prosecuted 
by  the  chief  executive  and  that  where  it  is  made  by  the  leg- 
islature, are  not  open  to  the  objections  to  which  we  have  di- 
rected attention.  Both  contemplate  an  entire  survey  of  the 
organization,  activities  and  methods  of  the  government.  If 
properly  organized  and  conducted  there  is  no  reason  why  the 
most  far-reaching  results  in  the  way  of  reform  may  not  be 
accomplished  by  either  of  these  methods.  To  secure  such 
results  certain  things,  if  not  essential,  are  at. least  of  great 
importance.  If  experience  is  to  be  any  guide  it  may  be  as- 
serted that  valuable  results  may  be  expected  only  where  a 
special  body,  bureau,  board  or  commission  is  created  for  the 
undertaking-  of  the  work,  where  adequate  funds  are  placed 
at  its  disposition  for  defraying  the  necessary  expenses  of  the 
undertaking,  where  the  personnel  and  staff  of  this  body  are 

18 


INTRODUCTION 

wholly  or  in  large  part  composed  of  persons  having  no  other 
official  connection  with  the  government  under  investigation, 
and  where  these  persons  are  selected  for  their  special  compe- 
tence in  respect  to  the  work  entrusted  to  them.  These  re- 
quirements are  essential  since  the  whole  object  of  the  inves-  \ 
tigation  is  to  secure  expert,  non-partisan  criticism  of  exist- 
ing- conditions  and  proposals  for  change.  The  men  making 
the  investigation  must  tnus  not  only  nave  technical  knowl- 
edge and  experience  in  reference  to  the  matters  inquired  into 
by  them,  but  be  in  a  position  where  they  can  make  their  criti- 
cisms and  suggestions  with  the  utmost  independence  and 
fearlessness.  It  is  not  contended  that  valuable  results  cannot 
be  accomplished  by  a  board  composed  of  members  of  the 
legislature  or  administrative  officials,  but  there  is  far  less 
likelihood  of  this  being  the  case  than  where  use  is  made  of 
any  economy  and  efficiency  bureau  or  commission  composed 
of  persons  holding  no  other  official  position  and  selected  with 
special  reference  to  their  qualifications  for  the  work.  Fur- 
thermore, it  is  only  by  employing  persons  outside  of  the  gov- 
ernment that  knowledge  regarding  approved  methods  in 
force  may  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  work  in  hand. 

At  this  point  the  exceedingly  important  question  is  pre- 
sented as  to  which  of  the  two  methods  of  investigation,  that 
under  the  auspices  and  general  direction  of  the  legislature  or 
that  under  the  auspices  and  general  direction  of  the  chief  ex- 
ecutive, is  the  preferable  one.  Most,  .of  the  official  economy 
and  efficiency  commissions  that  have  been  created  during  the 
period  under  consideration  have  been  of  the  latter  character. 
Though  their  establishment  was  authorized  and  the  funds 
for  their  support  were  voted  by  the  legislature,  provision  was 
in  most  cases  made  that  their  personnel  should  be  selected  by 
the  chief  executive,  and  that  they  should  work  under  the  gen- 
eral direction  of  and  report  to  that  officer.  From  a  legal 
standpoint  the  inquiry  was  thus  one  made  by  the  chief  execu- 
tive, the  commission  being  but  the  agency  through  which  he 
performed  this  duty.  Generally,  when  the  recommendations 
made  by  the  commission  required  no  legislation,  the  chief 
executive  and  his  associates  could  put  them  into  force  or  not 
according  as  they  commended  themselves  to  their  judgment. 
When  legislative  action  was  required  it  was  the  duty  of  the 

19 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

chief  executive  to  transmit  the  reports  of  the  commission  to 
the  legislature  with  such  approval  or  disapproval  of  these 
recommendations  as  he  deemed  proper.  This  was  the  char- 
acter of  the  President's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Effi- 
ciency, and,  as  stated,  the  prevailing  character  of  most  of  the 
other  official  economy  and  efficiency  commissions  that  have 
been  established  during  recent  years. 

Though  the  executive  type  of  inquiry  is  the  one  which  has 
thus  commended  itself  to  most  governments  which  have  taken 
any  action  at  all,  it  is  important  to  note  that  the  legislative 
type  is  much  the  most  logical,  and,  in  some  respects,  from  the 
theoretical  standpoint  at  least,  the  most  desirable  form  of 
procedure.  The  legislature,  under  our  form  of  government, 
is  the  organ  exercising  the  function  of  direction,  supervision, 
and  control.  From  the  standpoint  of  administration,  the 
chief  executive  and  all  administrative  officers  are  but  the 
agents  of  the  legislature  through  which  the  determinations  of 
the  latter  are  carried  out.  Logically,  therefore,  it  is  the  legis- 
lature which,  as  principal,  should  from  time  to  time  institute 
such  investigations  as  are  necessary  in  order  to  assure  itself 
that  its  agents  are  performing  their  duties  in  an  efficient  and 
economical  manner.  Furthermore,  as  the  source  of  all  ad- 
ministrative authority,  upon  it  primarily  falls  the  duty  of  de- 
termining all  large  matters  of  organization  and  procedure,  or 
of  insuring  that  all  delegated  authority  is  properly  exercised. 

To  these  theoretical  considerations  may  be  added  the 
practical  one  that,  when  an  inquiry  is  prosecuted  under  leg- 
islative auspices,  the  chances  of  having  the  reforms  recom- 
mended adopted  are  much  enhanced.  The  unfortunate  fric- 
tion and  strained  relations  between  the  legislature  and  the  ex- 
ecutive, which  seems  to  be  such  a  feature  of  our  government, 
makes  it  difficult  for  the  executive  to  secure  the  adoption  of 
proposals_emanating  from  him.  The  most  disheartening  fea- 
ure  of  the  work  of  all  official  economy  and  efficiency  commis- 
sions is  the  extent  to  which  their  recommendations  have  not 
only  failed  of  adoption,  but  have  failed  of  even  receiving  seri- 
ous consideration.  There  must  be  some  reason  for  this.  In 
the  opinion  of  the  writer,  one  explanation  at  least  of  this 
phenomenon  is  to  be  found  in  the  source  from  which  the  re- 
quests for  action  emanate.  Were  the  recommendations  made 

20 


INTRODUCTION 

by  an  organ  of  the  legislature  itself,  it  is  but  reasonable  to 
assume  that  they  would  be  received  more  favorably  and  would 
secure  serious  consideration  and  partial,  if  not  full,  adoption. 

To  these  advantages  of  the  legislative  over  the  executive 
inquiry,  but  one  counter  disadvantage  can  be  opposed.  This 
disadvantage  is  the  purely  practical  one  of  the  difficulty  of 
securing  a  thoroughly  non-partisan  and  independent  inves- 
tigation if  conducted  under  legislative  auspices.  Aside  from 
any  deliberate  intent  on  the  part  of  the  legislature  to  use  the 
investigation  for  party  purposes,  there  is  presented  the  ques- 
tion of  the  selection  of  the  directing  personnel  and  employees 
of  the  investigative  body  with  a  reference  solely  to  their  qual- 
ifications for  the  work.  It  is  certain  that  any  such  body  will 
be  subjected  to  constant  pressure  on  the  part  of  members  of 
the  legislature  to  give  employment  to  their  proteges.  It  would 
seem  to  the  writer  that  it  should  be  possible  to  provide  ade- 
quate safeguards  against  these  evils.  One  device  would  be 
that  of  appropriating  the  funds  necessary  for  the  entire  in- 
vestigation, instead  of  voting  funds  from  session  to  session, 
and  of  giving  complete  independence  to  the  members  of  the 
commission  by  providing  that  their  tenure  of  office  should  be 
that  of  the  life  of  the  commission,  and  that  their  compensa- 
tion should  not  be  changed  during  such  time. 

In  this  connection  it  is  important  to  note  that  if  results 
of  importance  are  to  be  expected  a  number  of  years  will  be 
required  for  the  prosecution  of  the  work.  Five  years  will 
be  none  too  long  a  period.  If  the  work  is  worth  doing  at  all 
it  is  worth  doing  thoroughly.  The  investigation  of  existing 
conditions  should  be  pushed  to  the  minutest  details  of  organ- 
ization and  procedure,  an  undertaking  involving  the  expendi- 
ture of  much  time  and  labor.  The  real  necessity  for  adequate 
time,  however,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  much  more  desirable 
that  the  work  shall  be  prosecuted  by  a  small,  highly-paid,  ex- 
pert staff,  which  will  take  up  one  or  two  problems  of  ad- 
ministration at  a  time  for  detailed  study  and  report,  than  to 
attempt  to  investigate  all  phases  at  the  same  time  with  a.  large 
and  less  efficient  force.  If  this  question  of  keeping  politics 
and  personal  considerations  out  of  the  work  of  the  commis- 
sion can  be  successfully  met,  there  is  more  chance  of  posi- 
tive reform  being  actually  accomplished  through  a  legisla- 

21 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

/  tive  than  through  an  executive  investigation.     If  it  cannot  be, 
then  the  latter  type  of  inquiry  should  be  preferred. 

From  a  consideration  of  the  official  type  of  investigation, 
we  now  turn  to  an  examination  of  the  alternative  type,  that 
where  the  work  of  inquiry  and  the  formulation  of  reform 
proposals  are  undertaken  by  a  purely  private  organization, 
such  as  is  best  illustrated  by  the  Institute  for  Government  Re- 
search and  bureaus  of  municipal  research.  Here  the  organ- 
ization problems  of  the  official  research  agency,  just  discussed, 
are  of  course  absent.  In  their  place  there  is  found,  however, 
a  problem  perhaps  more  perplexing — the  question  of  thfe  at- 
titude which  the  investigative  bureau  should  take  towards  the 
government  to  be  investigated  and  its  officers.  In  meeting 
this  delicate  question  two  alternative  lines  of  action  lie  open 
to  it,  that  of  attack  and  that  of  cooperation.  If  it  chooses 
the  first,  it  will  devote  itself  to  making  an  expose  of  exist- 
ing bad  conditions,  and  by  a  publicity  campaign  and  the  pres- 
sure of  public  opinion  seek  to  force  the  effecting  of  improve- 
ments. If  it  elects  the  second,  it  will  devote  itself  no  less 
actively  to  seeking  to  determine  existing  imperfections,  but, 
instead  of  using  the  information  so  obtained  as  a  means  of 
formulating  a  public  indictment  of  the  government  and  its 
administration,  it  will  bring  the  facts  so  established  to  the 
authorities  interested,  together  with  its  suggestions  regard- 
ing the  steps  that  are  required  in  order  to  bring  about  a  bet- 
ter condition  of  affairs.  Constructive  proposals  for  reform 
and  actual  lines  of  action  will  thus  be  worked  out  in  the  clos- 
est possible  cooperation  with  the  authorities  upon  whom  falls 
the  responsibility  for  recommending  or  taking  action.  Only 
when  the  authorities  stubbornly  refuse  to  cooperate  in  the 
work  or  give  due  consideration  to  the  bureau's  proposals  is 
resort  had  to  power  of  public  opinion  by  making  a  plain  state- 
ment of  conditions  as  revealed  by  the  investigations  of  the 
bureau. 

/f  It  cannot  be  too  emphatically  stated  that  the  second  of 
|these  two  policies,  that  of  working  in  the  closest  possible  co- 
operation with  the  officers  of  the  government  under  investiga-/ 
tion,  is  the  one  that  should,  if  possible,  be  followed.  The 
bureau  should  keep  steadily  in  mind  that  its  purpose  is  not 
to  indict  but  to  improve.  The  first  should  be  looked  upon 

22 


INTRODUCTION 

as  but  the  means  to  the  second,  which  is  the  end  in  view.  This 
means  that  in  many  cases  it  may  be  advisable  to  give  no  public- 
ity to  either  the  facts  found  to  exist  or  to  the  suggestions  as 
formulated  by  the  bureau.  Often  it  is  desirable  to  have  it  ap- 
pear that  the  reforms  have  been  put  through,  if  not  originated, 
by  the  services  affected.  The  bureau  can  well  afford  to  forego 
the  pleasure  of  popular  recognition  of  its  work,  if  its  end  is 
attained.  In  point  of  fact  the  services  effecting  the  reform 
are  usually  quite  willing  in  their  administrative  reports  to 
give  due  recognition  to  the  assistance  that  they  have  received 
from  the  bureau  in  bringing  about  improved  conditions,  and 
this  recognition  can  be  given  publicity  by  the  bureau  if  it  de- 
sires to  do  so. 

If  this  policy  is  not  only  adopted  by  the  bureau,  but  the 
fact  clearly  brought  home  to  the  officers  of  the  government 
investigated  that  this  is  the  policy,  and  that  all  statements  of 
facts  and  proposals  will  be  brought  to  their  attention  and  an 
opportunity  given  to  them  to  act  upon  them  before  any  public- 
ity is  had,  there  will  usually  be  little  difficulty  in  establishing 
cordial  cooperative  relations  between  the  officers  of  the  bureau 
and  the  governments.  It  is  very  much  to  the  credit  of  the 
bureaus  of  municipal  research  that  have  been  established  that 
this  important  consideration  has  been  clearly  seen  and  acted 
upon,  and  to  it  must  be  attributed  in  no  small  degree  the -suc- 
cess that  has  followed  their  efforts.1 

An  important  point  in  connection  with  the  adoption  of  this 
policy  should  here  be  mentioned.  This  is  that  it  is  desirable 
that,  as  far  as  possible,  the  bureau  shall  be  so  financed  that  it 
is  not  under  the  necessity  of  making  a  general  appeal  to  the 
public  for  funds  with  which  to  carry  on  its^work.  If  such 
a  necessity  exists,  it  will  be  under  a  constant  incentive  to  ex- 
ploit its  achievements,  and  this  may  be  precisely  what  it  is 
desirable  that  it  should  not  do.  A  very  considerable  <Mer\ 
ence  of  opinion  has  arisen  between  persons  connected  with,! 
or  interested  in,  the  work  of  these  organizations,  regarding \ 
the  attitude  that  the  bureau  should  take  towards  the  general  [ 
public.  There  is  a  very  strong  tendency  for  these  bureaus  | 
to  look  upon  themselves  as  agencies  for  the  education  of  the 

1  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  this  question  of  policy  see  chapter  on 
The  Institute  for  Government  Research. 

23 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

public  in  respect  to  governmental  matters,  and  for  the  stimu- 
lation of  popular  interest  in  public  affairs.  The  theory  upon 
which  this  action  rests  is  that  an  aroused  public  appreciation 
of  the  gravity  of  existing  evils  and  of  the  efficacy  of  proposed 
measures  of  reform  will  force  action  by  those  responsible  for 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs.  No  one  can  question  the  de- 
sirability of  the  public  having  a  knowledge  of  existing  condi- 
tions or  of  actively  interesting  itself  in  the  work  of  reform. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  very  much  a  question  whether  bureaus 
of  governmental  research  should  undertake  this  work.  If 
they  do  they  should  do  so  with  great  caution.  In  respect  to 
general  principle  may  be  laid  down  that  they  should 
ake  their  efforts  take  the  form  of  seeking  popular  support 
for  measures  desired  by  the  administration,  rather  than  of 
criticism  and  attack  upon  the  latter.  There  are  many  desir- 
able things  which  one  administration  would  like  to  do,  but 
which  it  cannot  accomplish  as  a  result  of  popular  indifference 
to  its  work.  In  respect  to  these,  bureaus  of  governmental  re- 
search can  do  much  by  aiding  in  the  arousing  of  public  opin- 
ion. Here,  as  in  its  work  proper,  the  bureau  should  thus 
seek  to  work  in  cooperation  with,  rather  than  in  antagonism 
to,  the  authorities  in  power. 

If  a  citizen  agency  adopts  toward  the  official  the  attitude 
recommended,  it  will  not  be  likely  to  encounter  much  diffi- 
culty in  its  endeavors  to  get  from  official  sources  the  informa- 
tion which  it  needs  as  the  basis  of  its  work.  Few  govern- 
ments have  been  willing  to  take  the  position  that  they  would 
antagonize  a  public-spirited  enterprise  of  this  sort.  In  fact, 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  authorities  have  indorsed, 
if  they  have  not  actually  participated  in,  the  inauguration  of 
the  undertaking  and  have  cooperated  cordially  in  its  work. 

Nevertheless  it  must  be  admitted  that  even  with  a  co- 
operative attitude  on  the  part  of  officials,  the  unofficial  agency 
will  rarely  find  itself  quite  as  favorably  situated  as  is  the  of- 
ficial agency  for  securing  the  information  which  it  must  have 
regarding  existing  conditions  and  practices  if  a  firm  basis  for 
criticism  and  constructive  proposals  is  to  be  laid,  and  for  the 
taking  of  direct  action  toward  the  adoption  of  such /propos- 
als. It  remains,  therefore,  to  consider  for  what  reasons,  if 

24 


INTRODUCTION 

any,  the  creation  of  unofficial  research  agencies  may  be  jus- 
tified. 

Resort  to  this  method  of  action  may  be  justified  by  two 
considerations.  The  first,  and  most  obvious,  of  these  is  that 
governments  generally  have  failed  on  their  own  initiative  and 
through  their  own  efforts  to  bring  about  that  reform  of  their 
organization  and  methods  which  it  is  the  right  of  their  citi- 
zens to  demand  of  them.  It  is  both  the  interest  and  the  duty 
of  all  persons  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  secure  an  improve- 
ment in  governmental  conditions,  and  failing  the  display  of 
sufficient  vigor  by  the  official  government  in  this  direction, 
it  is  logical  for  citizens  to  organize  unofficial  effort  for  the 
purpose. 

It  is  not  necessary,  however,  for  advocates  of  this  method 
to  rely  upon  this  justification.  Examination  will  show  that 
the  unofficial  agency  has  certain  important  advantages  which 
fully  warrant  resort  to  it  under  almost  any  conditions. 
Briefly  stated,  they  consist  in  the  facts:  that  the  work  can 
be  organized  and  conducted  as  an  absolutely  independent,  non- 
partisan,  purely  public-spirited  and  scientific  undertaking;  tnat 
it  can  be  placed  upon  a  permanent  basis  or  at  least  given  such 
a  lease  of  life  as  will  enable  it  to  perform  its  work  deliber- 
ately and  thoroughly;  that  nothing  stands  in  the  way  of,  but 
on  the  contrary  every  inducement  exists  for,  the  selection 
of  the  personnel  to  have  charge  of  the  work  with  sole  refer- 
ence to  their  technical  and  other  qualifications  for  the  work; 
and  that,  if  properly  managed,  its  recommendations  can  get 
a  popular  support  not  otherwise  obtainable.  Receiving  its  im- 
pulse from  the  outside  rather  than  from  the  inside  of  the 
government  investigated,  the  unofficial  agency  represents  the 
effort  to  bring  to  bear  upon  the  government  the  adoption  of 
those  principles  of  organization  and  administration  which  are 
employed  by  the  most  efficient  of  other  bodies,  public  and 
private. 

Of  great  interest  in  this  connection  are  the  following  ex- 
tracts from  the  resolutions  adopted  in  1916  by  the  National 
Federation  of  Governmental  Research  Agencies  (now  the 
Governmental  Research  Conference)  which  has  been  men- 
tioned above: 

25 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

That,  while  appreciating  the  value  of  efficiency  movements 
which  are  a  part  of  commercial  organizations,  educational  in- 
stitutions, and  governmental  units,  we  believe  citizens'  agen- 
cies for  public  efficiency  to  be  most  effective  when  inde- 
pendently organized  and  administered  as  regards  finance, 
methods,  publicity  and  other  fundamental  policies. 

That  it  is  prejudicial  to  the  best  interests  of  citizens'  agen- 
cies for  public  efficiency  for  members  of  boards  or  trustees 
to  seek  or  hold  public  office  or  employment,  to  promote  the 
candidacy  of  political  candidates,  or  to  be  vitally  concerned 
in  city  contracts  or  franchises. 

Whether  the  unofficial  research  agency  has  a  permanent 
place  in  our  public  life,  or  whether  it  represents  a  passing 
phase  of  the  movement  for  the  improvement  of  public  ad- 
ministration is  a  question  which  it  is  not  yet  possible  to  an- 
swer; nor  is  it  necessary  to  do  so.  No  one  who  is  familiar 
with  the  current  situation  in  the  field  of  public  administration 
can  doubt  that  for  some  years  to  come  the  unofficial  agency 
will  find  a  large  and  growing  sphere  of  usefulness. 


26 


PART  I 

AGENCIES  FOR  RESEARCH  IN  GOVERNMENT 


CHAPTER  I 

AGENCIES  FOR  STUDYING  PUBLIC  ADMINISTRA- 
TION GENERALLY:  UNOFFICIAL 

/Agencies  for  research  in  governmental  administration 
usually  owe  their  creation  to  the  desire  to  improve  the  ad- 
ministration of  a  particular  government ,  There  has  conse- 
quently been  established  thus  far  but  one  agency  for  research 
in  public  adminis1rajion_gen«r^Uy-=--the-Iiistitute  for  Govern-  6 
ment  Research,  located  at  Washington,  D.  C.  In  fact  even 
this  organization,  as  is  set  forth  below,  regards  the  national 
government  as  more  particularly  within  its  sphere  of  inter- 
est than  are  state  and  local  governments,  but  as  its  program 
also  embraces  the  study  of  public  administration  generally,  in- 
cluding matters  of  state  and  local  administration,  it  has  been 
deemed  appropriate  to  treat  it  as  falling  under  a  different  head 
from  those  official  agencies,  of  which  account  is  given  in  the 
following  chapter,  which  have  been  or  are  concerned  solely 
with  the  national  administration. 

The  following  account  of  the  Institute  for  Government 
Research  consists  of  a  reproduction  of  a  paper  presented  by 
the  Director  of  the  Institute,  Mr.  W.  F.  Willoughby,  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  American  Political  Science  Association 
in  December,  iqi?.1 

The.  Instituj£j:o^  is  an  institution 

incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
wholly  supported  by  voluntary  private  donations.  It  re- 
ceived its  charter  on  March  13,  1916,  and  began  active  opera- 
tions on  October  i  of  the  same  year.  Its  purpose  as  set  forth 
in  its  charter  is : 

\  To  conduct  scientific  investigations  into  the  theory  and 
practice  of  governmental  administration,  including  inquiries 

1  Printed  in  American  Political  Science  Review,  February,  1918, 
vol.  12,  p.  49. 

29 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

into  the  form  of  organization  and  the  manner  of  operation 
of  federal,  state  and  local  governmental  bodies  and  offices  in 
the  United  States  of  America  ;  the  powers,  duties,  limitations 
and  qualifications  of  officers;  the  methods  of  administration 
employed;  the  character  and  cost  of  results  obtained  and  the 
conditions  affecting  the  efficiency  and  welfare  of  governmen- 
tal officers  and  employees  ;  to  carry  on  such  inquiries,  directly 
or  with  the  cooperation  of  governments,  learned  societies,  in- 
stitutions of  learning  or  other  agencies  and  individuals  and  to 
make  public  the  results  of  its  investigations;  to  maintain  a 
library  for  the  use  of  the  society  or  its  members  and  officers 
and  those  affiliated  with  its  work  ;  and  to  prosecute  such  other 
inquiries  and  perform  such  other  services  as  may  tend  to 
the  development  and  application  of  the  principles  of  efficiency 


There  are  certain  features  of  this  statement  of  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Institute  to  which  it  is  desired  to  direct  atten- 
tion. The  first  of  these  is  that  the  Institute  is  declared  to  be 
an  institution  for  scientific  research.  Its  establishment  rep- 
resents the  conviction  on  the  part  of  its  founders  that  the 
rk  of  administration  is,  if  not  a  science,  a  subject  to  the 
study  of  which  the  scientific  method  should  be  rigidly  ap- 
plied. It  recognizes  that,  though  the  problems  of  adminis- 
tration are  of  great  complexity  and  vary  with  the  conditions 
under  which  each  operation  of  government  is  carried  on,  there 
are  certain  fundamental  principles  and  practices  which  must 
obtain  in  all  governmental  undertakings,  if  efficiency  and 
economy  in  operation  are  to  be  secured. 

Thus,  for  example,  if  we  apply  to  the  problem  of  admin- 
istration the  scientific  method  of  analysis,  it  will  be  found 
that  it  is  resolvable  into  five  fairly  distinguishable  parts  :  prob- 
lems of  organization,  problems  of  personnel,  problems  of  ma- 
terial, problems  of  business  practice  and  procedure,  and  prob- 
lems of  finance.  Each  of  these,  in  turn,  is  resolvable  into 
more  special  phases.  For  example,  problems  of  personnel 
have  to  do  with  the  recruitment  of  personnel,  how  employees 
shall  be  classified,  the  basis  on  which  their  compensation  shall 
be  fixed,  the  manner  of  determining  their  efficiency  through 
the  establishment  of  efficiency  records  or  otherwise,  and  the 
system  of  promotions  based  thereon,  what  shall  be  the  work- 

So 


PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION  GENERALLY 

ing  conditions  of  employees  in  respect  to  such  matters  as  per- 
manency of  tenure,  hours  of  labor,  leave  privileges,  etc.,  and 
finally,  the  provision  that  shall  be  made  in  the  way  of  retire- 
ment allowances  or  pensions  for  those  incapacitated  while  in 
the  performance  of  their  duties  or  as  the  result  of  age.  In 
like  manner,  problems  of  finance  include  such  questions  as  the 
system  of  handling  and  disbursing  funds,  of  accounting  and 
reporting,  of  audit  and,  most  important  of  all,  of  determin- 
ing and  making  provision  for  the  revenue  and  expenditure 
needs  of  the  several  services  and  of  the  government  as  a 
whole,  or,  to  use  the  expression  now  commonly  used,  of  the 
budgetary  system  that  shall  be  employed. 

One  of  the  major  activities  of  the  Institute  will  thus  be 
that  of  subjecting  this  whole  subject  of  public  administration 
to  scientific  analysis,  and  of  seeking  to  determine  and  make 
known  the  principles  and  practices  that  should  be  followed  in 
respect  to  each  of  these  general  and  specific  activities  in  order 
to  secure  efficiency  and  economy  in  operation.  In  the  per- 
formance of  this  activity  the  Institute  has  already  made  sub- 
stantial progress.  It  has  inaugurated  a  series  of  volumes, 
which  is  now  in  course  of  publication,  under  the  general  title 
of  "Principles  of  Administration."  The  first  volumes  of  this 
series,  entitled  Principles  Governing  the  Retirement  of  Public 
Employees  and  Principles  of  Government  Purchasing  have 
already  been  published. 

It  is  contemplated,  through  these  and  other  projected  vol- 
umes, to  cover  in  time  the  whole  field  of  administration  as  out- 
lined above.1 

Emphasis  has  been  laid  at  the  outset  upon  this  function 
of  the  Institute,  since  it  is  important  to  show  that,  while  the 
Institute  has,  in  many  respects,  the  same  field  of  operations 
as  bureaus  of  municipal  research,  economy  and  efficiency  com- 
missions, and  like  bodies,  and  like  them  aims  to  contribute 

'It  is  only  proper  to  state  that  the  performance  of  this  branch  of 
the  Institute's  work  has  been  much  facilitated  by  the  generous  grant 
of  something  over  $100,000  made  by  the  Rockefeller  Foundation,  prior 
to  the  establishment  of  the  Institute,  for  the  prosecution  of  studies 
of  this  character.  The  expenditure  of  this  fund  was  entrusted  to  a 
committee  of  which  the  writer  was  a  member.  The  committee  re- 
quested Dr.  F.  A.  Cleveland  to  assume  general  editorial  direction  of 
the  studies.  On  the  establishment  of  the  Institute  the  results  of  these 
studies  were  in  great  part  turned  over  to  it. 

31 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

directly  to  securing  specific  reforms  in  methods  of  govern- 
mental organization  and  administration,  its  operations  will 
extend  beyond  those  which  such  bodies  usually  undertake, 
or  which,  indeed,  it  is  feasible  for  them  to  attempt. 

Correlative  with  this  attempt  to  determine  and  make 
known  the  most  approved  principles  of  administration,  the 
Institute  plans  to  subject  to  detailed  and  critical  study  those 
systems  of  administration,  whether  in  this  or  foreign  coun- 
tries, the  practices  and  experiences  of  which  it  believes  will 
be  of  most  value  to  our  own  governments  in  seeking  to  put 
their  systems  of  administration  upon  a  more  efficient  basis. 
It  is  evident,  for  example,  that  it  would  be  of  value  to  the 
United  States  government,  in  working  out  its  problems  of 
income  tax  administration,  or  of  customs  or  postal  adminis- 
tration, to  have  a  knowledge  of  how  these  problems  have  been 
handled  in  other  countries.  In  like  manner  it  is  desirable,  if 
one  service  of  the  government  has  devised  an  especially  ef- 
ficient system  for  the  performance  of  a  particular  category  of 
work,  such  for  example  as  the  purchase,  custody  and  issue  of 
supplies,  that  this  system  should  be  described  in  published 
form  so  that  a  knowledge  of  it  may  be  available  to  other  serv- 
ices. 

A  second  feature  of  the  Institute's  program  will,  there- 
fore, be  to  make  investigations  with  this  end  in  view.  The 
results  of  these  investigations  will  be  published  in  a  series  of 
volumes  under  the  general  title  "Studies  in  Administration." 
At  the  present  time  the  most  important  problem  of  adminis- 
tration confronting  both  our  national  and  state  governments 
is  that  of  devising  and  installing  a  proper  budgetary  system. 
The  Institute  has  accordingly  selected  this  subject  as  the  first 
problem  of  administration  for  intensive  study,  and  the  first 
three  volumes  in  its  "Studies  in  Administration"  relate  to 
this  subject.  In  the  first  is  given  a  description  of  the  sys- 
tem of  financial  administration  of  Great  Britain,  the  country 
which  has  the  oldest  and  foremost  budgetary  system  in  the 
world.  In  the  second  is  given  a  translation  of  Rene  Stourm's 
notable  work  on  the  budget,  which  gives  an  excellent  and  de- 
tailed account  of  the  French  budgetary  system.  In  the  third 
is  given  a  study  of  the  Canadian  budgetary  system,  prepared 
along  the  lines  of  the  volume  on  the  British  system.  This 

32 


PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION  GENERALLY 

volume  has  the  special  value  of  showing  how  the  British  sys- 
tem works,  and  in  important  respects  fails  to  work  satisfac- 
torily, under  conditions  different  from  those  that  prevail  in 
the  mother  country  and  somewhat  analogous  to  those  prevail- 
ing in  the  United  States. 

The  Institute  has  in  preparation  three  other  volumes, 
which  it  is  expected  will  appear  shortly,  entitled  The  System 
of  Financial  Administration  of  the  United  States,  The  Move- 
ment for  Budgetary  Reform  in  the  States,1  and  The  Problem 
of  a  National  Budget.1  The  last  volume,  in  addition  to  giv- 
ing an  analysis  of  the  problem  as  it  presents  itself  to  the  na- 
tional government,  points  out  the  steps  that  will  have  to  be 
taken  by  that  government  in  putting  itself  upon  a  proper  budg- 
etary basis.  These  volumes,  it  is  believed,  will  furnish  in- 
formation which  cannot  fail  to  b^  of  value  in  the  movement 
now  in  full  swing  for  the  adoption  of  a  budgetary  system  by 
all  of  our  governing  bodies. 

Here  again  it  will  be  noted  that  the  work  of  the  Institute 
goes  beyond  that  of  bureaus  of  municipal  research  and  econ- 
omy and  efficiency  commissions.  These  organizations  nec- 
essarily confine  their  attention  almost  wholly  to  the  operations 
of  a  particular  government;  and,  in  doing  so,  address  them- 
selves primarily  to  those  features  of  administration  which  in 
their  opinion  are  most  in  need  of  reform.  The  Institute,  in 
this  branch  of  its  work,  studies  problems  of  administration 
of  any  government  whose  system  or  experience  is  likely  to 
throw  light  upon  problems  confronting  our  own  government, 
and  selects  for  study  those  systems  which  it  believes  to  be  most 
efficient  rather  than  the  reverse. 

A  third  feature  of  the  work  of  the  Institute  that  can  be 
of  great  value  to  the  cause  of  administrative  reform  in  the 
United  States  is  that  of  acting  as  a  general  clearing  house,  or 
organ,  through  which  the  large  number  of  agencies  now  en- 
gaged in  promoting  administrative  reform  in  the  United 
States  may  keep  in  touch  with,  and  make  use  of,  one  another's 
work.  To  this  end  the  Institute  now  has  in  preparation  a 
volume  which  will  appear  in  its  series  of  "Studies  in  Admin- 
istration," entitled  Organised  Efforts  for  the  Improvement  of 
Methods  of  Administration  in  the  United  States.  In  this  vol- 
*  Since  published. 

33 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ume  the  attempt  will  be  made  to  give  an  account  of  the  his- 
tory, organization  and  work  of  such  agencies  as  official  econ- 
omy and  efficiency  commissions,  bureaus  of  municipal  re- 
search, legislative  reference  and  bill-drafting  services,  munici- 
pal reference  libraries,  and  the  like. 

In  this  connection,  it  may  also  be  stated,  that  the  Institute 
is  seeking  to  build  up  at  its  headquarters  in  Washington  as 
complete  a  technical  library  of  material  bearing  upon  prob- 
lems of  administration  in  the  United  States  as  it  is  feasible 
for  it  to  secure.  Especially  is  it  making  the  effort  to  secure 
complete  sets  of  the  publications  of  the  agencies  just  men- 
tioned, of  the  reports  of  special  legislative  and  other  inves- 
tigations and  other  literature  of  a  like  character  which  it  is 
difficult  to  find  in  ordinary  libraries.  This  library  is  in 
charge  of  a  trained  librarian  and  no  pains  are  being  spared  to 
classify  and  index  the  material  received  in  such  a  way  that 
it  may  be  readily  utilized.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that 
the  facilities  of  this  library  are  open  to  all  students  of  political 
science. 

While  the  Institute  will  thus,  as  an  institution  for  scien- 
tific research,  occupy  the  whole  field  of  public  administration, 
it  will  have  a  special  field  which  it  plans  to  cultivate  inten- 
sively. One,  if  not  the  main,  motive  of  the  founders  of  the 
Institute  was  to  bring  into  existence  an  organization  that 
would  do  for  the  national  government  what  bureaus  of  mu- 
nicipal research  and  similar  bodies  were  so  effectively  doing 
for  many  of  the  municipalities  and  states  of  the  country.  It 
was  rightly  felt  that,  just  as  the  operations  of  this  government 
were  of  a  magnitude  and  importance  vastly  greater  than  those 
of  any  state  or  city,  its  activities  of  a  far  more  varied  char- 
acter, and  its  problems  of  administration  of  an  infinitely  more 
complex  nature,  so  the  need  was  greater  that  they  should  be 
subjected  to  study  with  a  view  to  making  known  the  condi- 
tions to  be  confronted  and  the  means  to  be  employed  in  meet- 
ing them. 

As  President  Taft  expressed  it  in  his  message  to  Congress 
of  January  17,  1912,  in  referring  to  the  inquiry  being  made 
under  his.  direction  into  the  efficiency  and  economy  of  the 
methods  of  prosecuting  public  business,  the  activities  of  the 
national  government  "are  almost  as  varied  as  those  of  the 

.34 


PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION  GENERALLY 

entire  business  world.  The  operations  of  the  government 
affect  the  interest  of  every  person  living  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  United  States.  Its  organization  embraces  stations  and 
centers  of  work  located  in  every  city  and  in  many  local  sub- 
divisions of  the  country.  Its  gross  expenditures  amount  to 
nearly  $1,000,000,000  annually.  Including  the  personnel  of 
the  military  and  naval  establishments,  more  than  400,000  per- 
sons are  required  to  do  the  work  imposed  by  law  upon  the 
executive  branch  of  the  government.  This  vast  organization 
has  never  been  studied  in  detail  as  one  piece  of  administrative 
mechanism.  Never  have  the  foundations  been  laid  for  a  thor- 
ough consideration  of  the  relations  of  all  of  its  parts.  No" 
comprehensive  effort  has  been  made  to  list  its  multifarious 
activities  or  to  group  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  present  a  clear 
picture  of  what  the  government  is  doing.  Never  has  a  com- 
plete description  been  given  of  the  agencies  through  which 
these  activities  are  performed.  At  no  time  has  the  attempt 
been  made  to  study  all  of  these  activities  and  agencies  with  a 
view  to  the  assignment  of  each  activity  to  the  agency  best  fitted 
for  its  performance,  to  the  avoidance  of  duplication  of  plant 
and  work,  to  the  integration  of  all  administrative  agencies  of 
the  government,  so  far  as  may  be  practicable,  into  a  unified 
organization  for  the  most  effective  and  economical  dispatch  of 
public  business." 

If  this  was  the  condition  prior  to  our  entrance  into  the 
present  great  world  conflict,  it  needs  no  great  powers  of  imag- 
ination to  conceive  conditions  as  they  exist  at  the  present  time, 
and,  in  no  small  measure,  will  continue  to  exist  after  the  war 
is  closed.  Not  only  has  it  been  necessary  enormously  to  ex- 
pand the  operations  of  existing  services  and  to  throw  upon 
them  work  for  which  they  were  never  intended,  but  scores  of 
new  agencies  have  had  to  be  hastily  constructed  with  but  in- 
adequate consideration  of  the  forms  of  organization  that 
should  be  given  to  them  or  the  relations  that  they  should  bear 
to  one  another.  Unless  administrative  confusion  is  to  reign 
supreme  after  the  war,  it  is  imperative  that  the  whole  admin- 
istrative machinery  of  the  government  shall,  as  it  were,  be 
put  upon  the  operating  table  for  the  purpose  of  determining 
what  changes  should  be  made  in  it,  with  a  view  to  so  distrib- 
uting the  work  to  be  done  among  the  several  agencies  em- 

35 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ployed,  and  of  so  correlating  these  several  parts  as  to  make 
of  them  one  unified  system  of  administrative  mechanism. 

This  is  a  work  which  cannot  be  done  by  the  services  them- 
selves acting  independently.  It  must  be  performed  by  some 
agency  which  will  approach  the  study  from  the  objective 
standpoint,  and  have  in  mind  the  welfare  of  the  government  as 
a  whole.  The  work  moreover  must  be  prosecuted  sys- 
tematically to  the  end  that  each  service  will  be  subjected  to 
the  same  character  of  examination  and  that,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, the  proposals  for  reform  will  have  consistency,  will 
look  to  the  erection  of  the  services  into  a  logically  integrated 
piece  of  administrative  machinery,  and  result  in  the  unification 
and  standardization  of  business  practices  and  procedure.  For 
the  performance  of  such  a  work  the  Institute,  granted  that 
it  has  adequate  funds  for  the  purpose,  is  admirably  equipped ; 
and  has  already  vigorously  entered  upon  its  execution. 

;The  first  step  in  an  undertaking  of  this  character  is  to  ob- 
ain  a  complete  and  thorough  knowledge  of  existing  condi- 
ions.  To  this  end  the  Institute  has  undertaken,  as  one  of  its 
major  activities,  the  preparation  of  a  series  of  monographs 
in  which  will  be  given  a  detailed  description  of  eacrTTTF  the 
fifty  or  more  distinct  services  of  the  government.  These 
monographs  will  all  be  prepared  according  to  a  uniform  plan. 
They  will  give :  first,  the  history  of  the  establishment  and  de- 
velopment of  the  service;  second,  not  merely  its  general  func- 
tions, but  its  specific  activities;  third,  its  organization  for  the 
handling  of  these  activities ;  fourth,  the  character  of  its  plant ; 
fifth,  a  compilation  of,  or  reference  to,  the  laws  and  regula- 
tions governing  its  operations;  sixth,  statistical  statements 
showing  its  appropriations,  expenditures  and  other  data  for  a 
period  of  years ;  and,  finally,  a  full  bibliography  of  the  sources 
of  information,  official  and  private,  descriptive  of  the  service 
and  its  operations.  These  monographs,  as  completed,  will  be 
published  in  a  series  of  volumes  under  the  general  title  "Serv- 
ice Monographs  of  the  United  States  Government."  l 

In  the  preparation  of  these  monographs  the  Institute  has 
steadily  in  mind,  and  aims  to  produce,  documents  that  will  be 

1  The  first  two  numbers  of  this  series,  covering  the  U.  S.  Reclama- 
tion Service  and  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  have  since  been  pub- 
lished. 

36 


PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION  GENERALLY 

not  only  of  interest  to  the  general  public,  but  of  direct  value 
and  assistance  in  the  administration  of  public  affairs.  To  ex- 
ecutive officials  they  will  offer  valuable  tools  of  administra- 
tion. Through  them  such  officers  can,  with  a  minimum  of 
effort,  inform  themselves  regarding  the  details,  not  only  of 
their  own  services,  but  of  those  with  whose  facilities,  activi- 
ties, and  methods  it  is  desirable  that  they  should  be  familiar. 
Under  present  conditions  services  frequently  engage  in  activi- 
ties in  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  the  work  projected  has  al- 
ready been  done,  or  is  in  process  of  execution,  by  others. 
Many  cases  exist  where  one  service  can  make  effective  use  of 
the  organization,  plant  or  results  of  other  services  if  it  has 
knowledge  that  such  facilities  are  in  existence.  With  the 
constant  shifting  of  directing  personnel  that  takes  place  in  the 
administrative  branch  of  the  national  government,  the  exist- 
ence of  means  by  which  incoming  officials  may  thus  readily 
secure  information  regarding  their  own  and  other  services  is 
a  matter  of  prime  importance. 

To  members  of  Congress  these  monographs  should  prove 
of  no  less  value.  At  present  congressmen  are  called  upon  to 
legislate  and  appropriate  money  for  services  concerning  whose 
needs  and  real  problems  they  can  secure  but  imperfect  in- 
formation. That  the  possession  by  each  member  of  a  set  of 
monographs,  such  as  is  here  projected,  prepared  according  to 
a  uniform  plan,  will  be  a  great  aid  to  intelligent  legislation 
and  appropriation  of  funds,  can  hardly  be  questioned. 

To  the  public,  finally,  these  monographs  will  give  that 
knowledge  of  the  organization  and  operations  of  their  gov- 
ernment which  they  must  have  if  they  are  properly  to  exercise 
their  function  of  bringing  to  bear  an  enlightened  public  opin- 
ion upon  the  conduct  of  governmental  affairs. 

One  further  fact  regarding  these  studies  should  be  noted. 
While  they  will  make  no  direct  recommendations  in  the  direc- 
tion of  reform,  they  will  furnish  the  data  which  must  be  avail- 
able if  really  important  reforms  are  to  be  accomplished,  and 
they  cannot  fail  greatly  to  stimulate  efforts  in  this  direction. 
Prepared  as  they  will  be  according  to  a  uniform  plan,  and  set- 
ting forth,  as  they  will,  the  activities,  plant,  organization, 
personnel  and  laws  governing  the  several  services  of  the  gov- 
ernment, they  will  automatically  reveal  the  manner  in  which 

37 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

the  activities  of  the  government  are  distributed  among  the 
several  services,  the  extent  to  which  work  in  the  same  field 
is  being  performed  by  different  services,  and  thus  furnish  the 
information  that  is  essential  to  a  consideration  of  the  great 
question  of  the  better  distribution  and  coordination  of  activi- 
ties among  the  several  departments,  establishments  and 
bureaus,  and  the  extent  to  which  duplications  of  plant,  organ- 
ization and  work  may  be  eliminated.  They  will,  in  a  word, 
permit  of  that  comprehensive  and  intensive  study  of  the  ad- 
ministrative branch  of  the  government  as  a  whole  which  has 
never  before  been  possible.  To  recapitulate,  they  will  serve 
the  double  purpose  of  furnishing  an  essential  tool  for  ef- 
ficient legislation,  administration  and  popular  control,  and  of 
laying  the  basis  for  critical  and  constructive  work  on  the  part 
of  those  upon  whom  responsibility  for  action  in  this  way 
primarily  rests. 

Though  emphasis  has  thus  been  placed  upon  the  work  of 
the  Institute  in  the  way  of  making  known  conditions  as  a 
basis  for  critical  and  constructive  studies,  the  latter  field  will 
by  no  means  be  neglected  by  the  Institute.  Progressively,  as 
it  secures  the  data,  it  contemplates  taking  up,  one  after  an- 
other, the  great  problems  of  administration  as  they  confront 
the  national  government,  and  seeking,  by  their  study,  to  indi- 
cate ways  in  which  they  can  be  more  efficiently  and  econom- 
ically handled. 

Its  service  monographs,  for  example,  will  make  known 
that  the  national  government  now  possesses  three  distinct  serv- 
ices, located  in  different  departments,  having  for  their  pur- 
pose the  making  of  hydrographic  surveys  and  the  prepara- 
tion of  sailing  charts  and  directions :  the  coast  and  geodetic 
survey,  the  hydrographic  office  in  the  Navy  Department,  and 
the  lakes  survey  service  in  the  War  Department.  Manifestly 
there  is  here  raised  the  question  whether  it  is  not  desirable  that 
the  work  of  these  three  services  should  be  done  by  a  single 
service. 

This  is  but  an  illustration  of  the  many  questions  regard- 
ing the  possible  more  effective  grouping  of  services  and  dis- 
tribution of  duties  that  will  arise.  No  one  of  them  can  be 
properly  answered  without  a  detailed  knowledge  of  the  or- 
ganization and  duties  of  existing  services.  There  is  here  pre- 

38 


PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION  GENERALLY 

sented  a  wide  field  of  inquiry  into  which  the  Institute  will,  as 
information  is  accumulated,  enter. 

In  the  foregoing  we  have  sought  to  make  known  what 
may  be  termed  the  fundamental  or  basic  work  program  of  the 
Institute.  The  prosecution  of  this  work,  however,  repre- 
sents but  one  phase  of  its  activities.  \A  second  phase,  and  one 
which  at  the  present  time  is  very  prominent,  lies  in  the  direct  /r 
cooperation  of  the  Institute  with  services  of  the  national  gov- 
ernment in  their  efforts  to  work  out  the  special  problems  of 
administration  now  confronting  them.  \  This  phase  of  the 
Institute's  work  is  excellently  stated  id  the  printed  notice, 
given  to  the  public  at  the  time  of  its  establishment,  when  the 
Institute  was  described  to  be  "an  association  of  citizens  for  co- 
operating with  public  officials  in  the  scientific  study  of  busi- 
ness methods  with  a  view  to  promoting  efficiency  in  govern- 
ment and  advancing  the  science  of  administration." 

It  is  evident  that,  if  the  Institute  is  to  serve  its  full  meas- 
ure of  usefulness,  it  should  not  only  work  in  close  and  cordial 
relations  with  government  officials,  but  be  accepted  by  the 
latter  as  an  organization  that  can  be  of  direct  assistance  to 
them.  No  efforts  have  been  spared  by  the  Institute  to  estab- 
lish its  relations  with  the  services  of  the  government  upon  this 
basis.  That  its  efforts  in  this  direction  have  been  successful 
is  made  evident  both  by  the  willingness  on  the  part  of  such 
services  to  furnish  to  the  Institute  the  information  needed  by 
it  for  the  prosecution  of  its  studies,  and  by  the  numerous  re- 
quests that  have  been  made  by  them  upon  the  Institute  for 
assistance. 

In  point  of  fact  considerably  more  than  half  of  the  work 
done  by  the  Institute  since  its  establishment  has  been'  in  meet- 
ing calls  of  this  character.  On  the  entrance  of  our  country 
into  the  war,  the  Institute,  in  common  with  many  other  or- 
ganizations, offered  its  services  to  the  government.  This  of- 
fer was  accepted,  and  the  Institute  has  done  a  large  amount 
of  work  for  such  organizations  as  the  Council  of  National 
Defense,  the  American  National  Red  Cross,  and  various  bu- 
reaus and  services  of  the  War  Department.  Requests  for  its 
assistance,  however,  have  not  come  exclusively  from  the  mili- 
tary services.  It  has  had  no  small  number  of  requests  for 

39 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

assistance  from  purely  civil  branches  of  the  government. 
These  calls  indeed  have  been  greater  than  the  financial  re- 
sources of  the  Institute  have  permitted  it  to  meet.  To  such 
an  extent  is  this  true  that  it  may  be  stated  that  the  opportunity 
for  the  Institute  to  render  assistance  in  this  way,  and  thus  to 
contribute  directly  to  making  the  administration  of  national 
affairs  more  efficient,  is  only  limited  by  the  financial  resources 
that  it  can  command. 

The  success  of  the  Institute  in  establishing  cordial  work- 
ing relations  with  the  national  government  must  be  attributed 
primarily  to  the  fundamental  policy  adopted  by  it  in  respect 
to  all  of  its  work.  This  policy  consists  in  taking  the  position 
that  responsibility  for  effecting  reforms  rests  primarily  upon 
government  officials  themselves,  that  all  an  outside  organiza- 
tion, such  as  the  Institute,  can  do  is  to  render  such  assistance 
as  it  can  to  such  officials,  and  that  to  the  latter  should  ac- 
crue the  credit  for  improvements  made. 

This  question  of  the  policy  to  be  pursued  by  the  Institute 
in  performing  its  work  was  rightly  considered  by  the  trus- 
tees as  one  of  supreme  importance  and  a  matter  that  should 
be  definitely  determined  before  any  operations  were  begun. 
The  writer  of  the  present  paper,  prior  to  his  appointment  as 
director  of  the  Institute,  was  accordingly  requested  to  submit 
his  views  regarding  this  matter.  This  he  did  in  a  memoran- 
dum, which  received  the  full  endorsement  of  the  trustees, 
from  which  the  following  may  be  quoted : 

An  organization  such  as  the  Institute  can  proceed  in  two 
ways  in  seeking  the  improvement  of  governmental  condi- 
tions. It  can  operate  as  a  scientific  body  having  for  its  pur- 
pose to  assist  government  officials  in  effecting  reform,  or  it 
can  make  of  itself  an  agent  for  bringing  public  pressure  to 
bear  upon  officials  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  them  to  take 
action  believed  to  be  desirable.  In  the  opinion  of  the  writer 
it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  first  of  these  two  meth- 
ods should  be  adopted.  This  means  that  the  policy  of  the 
Institute  should  be  that  of  working  in  the  closest  and  most 
cordial  relations  with  government  officials  that  it  is  possible 
to  secure.  No  effort  should  be  spared  to  make  officials  of 
the  government  understand  that  what  is  sought  is  to  aid  them 
to  improve  conditions;  that  the  actual  effecting  of  reforms 

40 


PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION  GENERALLY 

should  be  their  work;  and  that  to  them  should  accrue  official 
and  public  credit  for  reforms  accomplished.  The_ Institute 
itself  should  as  far  as  possible  keep  in  the  background.  .  .  . 
As  elsewhere  stated,  the  Institute  and  the  board  of  trustees 
should  be  satisfied  if  as  the  result  of  their  efforts,  results  are 
being  accomplished.  The  extent  to  which  they  get  any  pub- 
lic credit  for  such  results  should  be  a  matter  of  indifference 
to  them. 

Action  upon  the  foregoing  policy  does  not  of  course  pre- 
clude the  making  and  publication  of  scientific  studies  in  the 
field  of  administration,  such  as  we  have  described  above,  nor 
the  preparation  and  publication  of  reports  dealing  with  those 
general  problems  of  administration,  such  as  the  formulation 
of  a  proper  budgetary  system,  the  better  correlation  of  exist- 
ing services  departmentally,  and  the  standardization  of  busi- 
ness practices  and  procedure.  It  does  not  deny,  moreover,, 
the  value  of  the  work  done  by  organizations  having  for  their  | 
avowed  purpose  the  public  indictment  of  present  conditions  and 
the  conduct  of  a  public  propaganda  for  the  introduction  of  spe- 
cific measures  of  reform.  It  merely  means  that  it  is  unwise 
for  the  same  organization  to  attempt  to  ride  these  two  horses 
at  the  same  time. 

The  question  is  wholly  one  of  method.  The  Institute,  no 
less  than  other  organizations,  will  reach  definite  opinions  re- 
garding what  changes  should  be  made  in  methods  of  organiza- 
tion and  administration  in  order  to  make  them  more  efficient 
and  economical,  and  will  seek  no  less  strenuously  to  have 
these  changes  effected;  but  it  will  do  so,  as  far  as  possible, 
by  seeking  to  convince  those  charged  with  the  conduct  of  pub- 
lic affairs  of  their  desirability,  and  having  them  take  the  nec- 
essary steps  for  their  accomplishment.  That  greater  results  ) 


in  the  long  run  can  be  secured  in  this  way  than  by  seeking  to 
have  reforms   forced  upon  officials  over  their  opposition,   is    \ 
the  firm  conviction  of  the  officers  of  the  Institute.     Even  where 
seeming  success  follows  the  latter  method  the  results  are  of tefT ' 
more  apparent  than  real.     Few  administrative  practices,  no 
matter  what  their  theoretical  merits,  will  give  good  results  un- 
less those  responsible   for  their  operation  are  persuaded  of 
their  desirability  and  apply  them  in  good  faith.     Many  re- 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

forms,  such  as  the  introduction  of  cost  keeping  systems,  have 
met  with  shipwreck  for  this  reason. 

For  over  thirty  years  the  writer  has  been  intimately  con- 
cerned in  one  capacity  or  another  with  the  administrative  work 
of  the  national  government.  It  is  his  experience  that  the  di- 
recting personnel  att  Washington — the  heads  of  departments, 
bureaus  and  divisions — are  of  a  high  order  of  ability  and  genu- 
inely desirous  of  having  their  services  efficiently  organized  and 
conducted.  If  they  have  fallen  short  of  achieving  their  aims 
in  many  respects  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  each  officer  is 
concerned  with  the  administration  of  but  one  service,  that  he 
has  not  been  in  a  position  where  he  can  consider  problems  of 
administration  from  the  standpoint  of  the  government  as  a 
whole,  and  that  the  demands  upon  him  for  the  performance 
of  the  current  work  of  his  service  are  such  as  to  leave  him  lit- 
tle or  no  time  for  the  study  of  methods  of  administration  prac- 
ticed elsewhere,  or  to  work  out  new  principles  and  practices 
for  himself.  The  experience  of  the  Institute  but  confirms  past 
experience  that  these  officials  are  freely  receptive  to  suggested 
improvements  and  welcome  assistance  when  given  to  them  in 
the  proper  way  and  spirit.  With  such  a  condition  of  affairs, 
it  would  be  the  height  of  folly  not  to  assume  a  like  sympathetic 
attitude  and  make  the  fullest  possible  use  of  this  good  will. 

In  concluding  this  account  of  the  Institute  for  Govern- 
ment Research,  it  is  not  out  of  place  to  point  out  how  closely 
its  aims  correspond  to  those  of  the  American  Political  Sci- 
ence Association,  and  how  nearly  it  meets  a  desire  formally 
expressed  by  it.  In  1908  this  association  addressed  to  the 
Carnegie  Institution  a  letter  and  memorial  pointing  out  the 
need  for  the  establishment  at  Washington  of  a  department  of 
research  in  political  science  and  suggesting  that  that  institution 
take  steps  in  that  direction.  In  the  establishment  of  the  In- 
stitute for  Government  Research  the  association  sees  its  wishes 
in  great  part  accomplished.  Though  the  Institute  has  appar- 
ently as  its  field  but  one  branch  of  political  science,  that  of  ad- 
ministration, that  field,  properly  construed,  is  of  broad  scope. 
Efficient  administration  depends  in  no  small  degree  upon  the 
existence  of  a  proper  political  organization  and  the  application 
of  proper  political  practices.  It  cannot  be  achieved  without 

42 


PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATION  GENERALLY 

due  regard  to  these  larger  questions  of  political  science.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  aim  of  all  political  science  is  a  good  adminis- 
tration of  public  affairs.  "The  government  best  adminis- 
tered," writes  Alexander  Pope,  "is  best."  In  a  way,  therefore,  W 
the  study  of  administration  means  but  the  study  of  political 
science  or  government  from  a  certain  standpoint,  that  of 
adaptation  of  forms  and  means  to  an  end,  efficiency  in  opera- 
tion. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Studies  in  Administration. 

The  system  of  financial  administration  of  Great  Britain,  a  report 
by  William  F.  Willoughby,  Westel  W.  Willoughby,  Samuel  Mc- 
Cune  Lindsay.  New  York,  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1917. 
XVI,  362  p. 

The  budget,  by  Rene  Stourm;  a  translation  from  the  seventh  edition 
of  Le  budget  .  .  .  Thaddeus  Plazinski,  translator  .  .  .  New 
York,  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1917.  XXVII,  619  p. 

The  Canadian  budgetary  system,  by  Harold  G.  Villard  and  W.  W. 
Willoughby.  New  York,  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1918.  XIII, 

379  P- 
The  problem  of  a  national  budget,  by  William  Franklin  Willoughby. 

New  York,  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1918.  XIII,  220  p. 
The   movement  for  budgetary  reform  in  the  states,  by   William 

Franklin  Willoughby.     New  York,  D.  Appleton  and  Company, 

1918.    XI,  254  p. 
Teachers'  pension  systems  in   the   United  States:  a  critical  and 

descriptive  study,  by  Paul  Studensky.     New  York,  D.  Appleton 

and  Company,  1919. 

Organised  efforts  for  the  improvement  of  methods  of  administra- 
tion in  the  United  States,  by  Gustavus  A.  Weber.  New  York, 

D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1919.    371  p. 
Principles  of  Administration. 
Principles  governing  the  retirement  of  public  employees,  by  Lewis 

Meriam.     New  York,  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1918.     XXX, 

477. P- 
Principles  of  government  purchasing,  by  Arthur  G.  Thomas.    New 

York,  D.  Appleton  and  Company,  1919.  XIII,  275  p. 
Service  Monographs  of  the  United  States. 

1.  The  U.  S.  geological  survey.     New  York,  D.  Appleton  and  Com- 
pany, 1919.    X,  163  j>. 

2.  The  U.  S.  reclamation  service.     New  York,  D.  Appleton  and 
Company,  1919.  XI,  177  p. 


43 


CHAPTER  II 

AGENCIES  FOR  INVESTIGATING  THE  NATIONAL 
ADMINISTRATION :  OFFICIAL 

Official  inquiries  into  the  conduct  of  business  in  the  execu- 
tive departments  of  the  national  government  have  been  made 
from  time  to  time  since  the  beginning  of  the  government. 
These  inquiries  have  been  made  under  various  auspices,  by 
order  of  bureau  chiefs,  of  heads  of  departments,  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  of  Congress  itself.  They  range  in  scope  from  in- 
quiries into  special  details  of  administrative  practice  to  gen- 
eral investigations  of  the  organization  and  business  practices 
of  the  executive  departments. 

It  is  manifestly  impracticable  even  to  list,  much  less  to  de- 
scribe in  detail,  all  such  inquiries,  many  of  which  indeed  are 
recorded  only  in  manuscripts  filed  in  the  bureaus  or  depart- 
ments to  which  they  relate.  Little  useful  purpose,  moreover, 
would  be  served  by  attempting  to  do  so,  since  most  of  them 
relate  to  conditions  which  have  now  passed  away.  There  is 
reproduced  in  the  following  section,  however,  a  list  of  con- 
gressional inquiries  into  the  conduct  of  the  business  of  the 
executive  departments,  1789  to  1911,  which  was  prepared  by 
the  late  President's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency 
and  published  by  it  as  a  part  of  its  report  on  The  Need  for  a 
National  Budget}  This  list  is  by  no  means  a  complete 
enumeration  of  official  reports  dealing  with  the  organization 
and  methods  of  business  of  the  administrative  branch  of  the 
government.  It  does  serve  to  indicate,  however,  the  leading 
investigations  of  a  general  character  that  have  been  made  dur- 
ing this  period  at  the  special  direction  of  Congress. 

Of  these,  two  are  of  such  comparatively  recent  date  and 
of  such  general  importance  that  it  has  been  thought  desirable 

'"House  Doc.  No.  851,  62d  Congress,  2d  Session,  1912. 

44 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

to  give  a  special  account  of  them.  Reference  is  had  to  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  methods  of  business  and  work  in  the  execu- 
tive departments  made  by  a  select  committee  of  the  Senate, 
of  which  Mr.  Cockrell  was  chairman,  in  1887-1889,  and  to  the 
investigation  into  the  status  of  the  laws  organizing  the  execu- 
tive departments,  their  methods  of  business,  etc.,  made  by  a 
joint  commission  composed  of  members  of  the  two  Houses, 
of  which  Mr.  Cockrell  and  Mr.  Dockery  were  the  representa- 
tives, in  1893-1895. 

Following  these  two  investigations  two  other  inquiries  of  a 
general  character  into  the  organization  and  business  methods 
of  the  departments  were  made  under  the  direct  control  of  the 
President.  The  first  of  these,  known  as  the  Keep  Commission 
Inquiry,  was  undertaken  by  the  President  upon  his  own  initia- 
tive and  without  special  sanction  of  Congress.  The  results 
of  its  work  which  extended  over  the  years  1905  to  1909  were 
only  in  small  part  embodied  in  printed  reports  and  even  these 
reports  are  almost  unobtainable  since  they  were  not  issued  as 
public  documents.  The  second  inquiry  was  also  undertaken 
at  the  instance  of  the  President  but  was  authorized  by  Congress 
through  the  grant  of  funds  for  its  prosecution.  This  inquiry 
was  conducted  by  a  special  body,  known  as  the  President's 
Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency,  which  the  President 
created  and  whose  activities  covered  the  period  1910  to  1913. 

Finally,  in  1913,  Congress  made  provision  for  a  permanent 
service,  which  later  was  given  the  designation  of  United  States 
Bureau  of  Efficiency,  to  have  the  duty  of  making  inquiries  into 
the  organization  and  business  methods  of  the  administrative 
services  with  a  view  to  their  improvement. 

The  work  of  these  five  bodies  is  of  such  importance  and 
bears  so  directly  upon  present  day  problems,  that  it  has  been 
thought  desirable  to  give  a  separate  description  of  each. 

Bibliography  of  Congressional  Inquiries  into  the  Conduct 
of  the  Business  of  Executive  Departments  Other  Than  by 
Standing  Committees  of  Congress,  lySg-ign.1  The  follow- 

1  Reproduced  from  The  Need  for  a  National  Budget.  Report  of 
the  President's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency,  H.  Doc.  851, 
62d  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  1912. 

45 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ing  bibliography  contains  references  to  the  reports  of  all  com- 
mittees, commissions,  and  individuals  directed  by  congressional 
act  or  resolution  to  inquire  or  report  upon  any  phase  of  admin- 
istration within  the  executive  departments.  The  classification 
is  made  according  to  inquiries  of  a  general  character  and  those 
dealing  with  a  specific  department  or  bureau.  Within  these 
divisions  the  arrangement  is  chronological.  The  period  cov- 
ered dates  from  1789  to  1911. 
The  sources  consulted  were : 

American  State  Papers. 

Descriptive    catalogue    of    Government    Publications, 

1789-1881. 

Poore,  Ben:  Per  ley,  Wash.,  1885. 
Congressional  documents — 

Index  compiled  under  L.  C.  Ferrell,  1789-1893. 
Congressional  Record — 

House  reports. 

House  documents. 

Senate  reports. 

Senate  documents. 
United  States  statutes. 
Estimates  of  appropriations. 
Receipts  and  disbursements. 

An  effort  has  been  made  to  include  the  cost  of  each  inquiry 
and  where  appropriation  was  made  the  amount  has  been  noted. 
Where  the  expenses  were  published  in  "Receipts  and  disburse- 
ments" these,  too,  have  been  listed.  Often  there  appears  in 
"Receipts  and  disbursements,"  for  those  inquiries  whdse  ex- 
penses were  to  be  paid  out  of  money  not  otherwise  appropri- 
ated, no  specific  entry.  Presumably  the  disbursement  is  in- 
cluded in  the  item  under  Senate  and  House  disbursements  "Ex- 
penses for  special  and  select  committees." 

GENERAL 

Expenditures  of  the  executive  departments. — (5th  Cong.,  2d  sess. 
H.  Kept.  136.  American  State  Papers,  Finance:  Vol.  I,  590.  Wash., 
1798.)  Report  of  committee  appointed  to  inquire  and  report  on  pos- 
sible necessary  changes  in  methods  of  distributing  public  moneys  ap- 
propriated for  each  department. 

Conduct   of   clerks   and   officers   in   various   departments. — (i5th 

46 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Cong.,  ist  sess.  H.  Kept.  182.  Ser.  No.  n.  Wash.,  1818.)  Inquiry 
into  conduct  in  office  of  clerks  in  several  departments.  Committee 
appointed  upon -House  resolution. 

Retrenchment  in  public  expenditures. —  (i7th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  H. 
Kept.  645.  American  State  Papers,  Finance :  Vol.  Ill,  800.  Wash., 
1822.)  Report  of  select  committee  appointed  to  inquire  whether  any 
part  of  public  expenditure  may  be  retrenched. 

Expenditures  of  public  departments. —  (20th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  H. 
Kept.  116.  Ser.  No.  177.  Wash.,  1828.)  Committee  on  Public  Ex- 
penditures, through  resolution  of  the  House,  reports  on  compatibility 
with  other  work  of  special  examination  into  appropriations,  disburse- 
ments, and  vouchers  received  for  public  money. 

Retrenching  the  expenses  of  the  Government. — (20th  Cong.,  ist 
sess.  H.  Kept.  922.  American  State  Papers,  Finance:  Vol.  V,  1049. 
Wash.,  1828.)  Report  of  select  committee  appointed  under  House 
resolution  to  inquire  into  and  report  any  possible  retrenchment  in 
the  expenses  of  the  Government. 

Reorganising  the  executive  departments. —  (2ist  Cong.,  ist  sess. 
S.  Rept.  109.  Ser.  No.  193.  Wash..,  1830.)  Report  of  select  com- 
mittee to  whom  was  referred  part  of  President's  message  respecting 
reorganization  of  the  departments. 

Public  expenditures. —  (27th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Rept.  458.  Ser. 
No.  408.  Wash.,  1842.)  Report  by  Committee  on  Public  Expendi- 
tures, explaining  impossibility  of  carrying  on  such  detailed  work 
as  examination  of  appropriations,  disbursements,  etc.,  would  entail. 

Retrenchment — Reorganisation  of  the  executive  departments. — 
(27th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Rept.  741.  Ser.  No.  410.  Wash.,  1842.) 
Select  committee  of  five  Members  to  examine  as  to  number  of  em- 
ployees, expenditures,  and  mode  of  business  in  several  departments 
and  possible  curtailment  in  civil  list. 

Civil  service. —  (44th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  S.  Rept.  289.  Ser.  No.  1667. 
Wash.,  1876.)  Report  by  select  committee  appointed  by  Senate  to 
examine  several  branches  of  civil  service  with  a  view  to  reorganiza- 
tion. Report  contains  correspondence  with  heads  of  departments. 

Expenses  investigation. —  (47th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  S.  Rept.  265. 
Ser.  No.  2005.  Wash.,  1882.)  Report  of  Committee  on  Appropri- 
ations authorized  by  Senate  resolution  to  investigate  expenditure, 
methods,  and  costs  of  disbursing  appropriations. 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. — (50th  Cong., 
ist  sess.  S.  Rept.  507.  Ser.  No.  2521.  Wash.,  1888.)  Report  from 
select  committee  (Mr.  Cockrell)  in  response  to  Senate  resolution 
creating  same  to  inquire  into  methods  of  business  in  executive  de- 
partments. Allowance  for  clerk  hire  and  other  necessary  expenses 
from  contingent  fund  of  the  Senate.  (Expenses  for  special  and  se- 
lect committees  amounted  in  1888  to  $31,153.31.) 

Executive  departments,  organization,  etc. —  (53d  Cong.,  ist  sess. 
H.  Rept.  49.  Ser.  No.  3158.  Wash.,  1893.)  Report  by  Mr.  Dockery 
:  from  the  joint  commission  to  inquire  into  the  status  of  the  laws  or- 
ganizing the  executive  departments.  Commission  created  under 
legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  appropriation  act  March  3,  1893. 
Organization  and  conduct  of  business  were  main  lines  of  inquiry. 
Expenses  to  be  paid  out  of  any  money  in  Treasury  not  otherwise 
accounted  for.  Disbursements  were  as  fellows: 

47 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

1893 $1,200.00 

1894 15,000.00 

1895  25,063.99 


Total  $41,263.99 

Annual  settlement  of  public  accounts. —  (53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  S. 
Misc.  Doc.  153.  Ser.  No.  3171.  Wash.,  1894.).  Joint  report  from 
Secretaries  of  departments  in  re  annual  settlements  of  public  ac- 
counts December  6,  1816  A  departmental  inquiry  by  each  Secretary 
was  necessitated  by  this  demand  from  the  Senate  for  reports. 

Government  officers  and  employees. — (6ist  Cong.,  3d  sess.  S. 
Doc.  836.  Wash.,  1911.)  Message  from  President  transmitting  in 
reply  to  Senate  resolution  information  in  re  total  number  of  ap- 
pointments by  President,  with  and  without  senatorial  confirmation ; 
total  number  of  officers  and  employees  under  civil-service  rules ;  total 
number  of  employees  subject  to  removal  by  President  without  con- 
gressional action;  total  number  of  officers  and  employees  of  the 
United  States  exclusive  of  Army  and  Navy  officers. 

STATE 

Expenditures  in  the  State  Department. —  (25th  Cong.,  2d  sess. 
H.  Kept.  931.  Ser.  No.  336.  Wash.,  1838.)  Investigation  by  Com- 
mittee on  Expenditures  in  the  State  Department  into  legality  of 
method  of  accounting  for,  and  proper  disbursement  of  funds  ap- 
propriated to  use  of  department. 

Employees,  etc.,  in  the  State  Department. —  (29th  Cong.,  1st  sess. 
H.  Kept.  552.  Ser.  No.  490.  Wash.,  1846.)  Committee  of  the 
Judiciary  inquire  into  the  number  and  duties '  of  employees  and 
growth  of  force  comparative  with  that  of  28  years  previous  to  1846. 

Changes  in  the  law  of  the  State  Department. — (46th  Cong.,  3d 
sess.  S.  Ex.  Doc.  53.  Ser.  No.  1943.  Wash.,  1881.)  Response  of 
Secretary  in  answer  to  Senate  resolution  in  re  desirable  changes  in 
laws  regulating  management  of  the  department. 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. — (See  "Gen- 
eral." Wash.,  1888.) 

Executive  departments,  organisation,  etc. — (See  "General." 
Wash.,  1893.) 

Consular  Service. — (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  S.  Kept.  886.  Ser.  No. 
3289.  Wash.,  1895.)  Report  by  Mr.  Morgan,  Committee  on  For- 
eign Relations,  submitting  views  on  condition  of  service,  reforms 
necessary,  and  methods  to  bring  them  about. 

Ages,  etc.,  of  employees  in  Department  of  State. — (57th  Cong., 
ist  sess.  S.  Doc.  65.  Ser.  No.  4226.  Wash.,  1901.)  Response  of 
Secretary  in  answer  to  Senate  resolution  calling  for  information. 

Fraud  in  public  service,  select  committee  on  appropriations  for 
the  employees  engaged  in  detection  and  prevention  of. — (6oth  Cong., 
20*  sess.  H.  Rept.  2320.  Ser.  No.  5387.  Wash.,  1909.)  Report  of 
select  committee  in  response  to  House  resolution  catling  for  an  in- 
vestigation. 

TREASURY 

Condition  of  the  Treasury  Department. — (3d  Cong.,  1st  sess. 
H.  Rept  68.  American  State  Papers,  Finance,  Vol.  I,  281.  Wash,,, 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

1794.)  Report  of  a  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  state  of 
the  Treasury  Department  generally,  and  to  report  on  methods  of 
accounting  in  the  Department  of  the  Treasury. 

Condition  of  the  Treasury. —  (6th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Rept.  157. 
American  State  Papers,  Finance,  Vol.  I,  690.  Wash.,  1801.)  Re- 
port of  committee  instructed  by  House  to  investigate  conduct  of 
affairs  in  the  department. 

Unsettled  balances. — (i4th  Cong.,  1st  sess.  H.  Rept.  486.  Amer- 
ican State  Papers,  Finance,  Vol.  Ill,  123.  Wash.,  1816.)  Report 
of  committee  in  response  to  House  resolution  calling  for  an  investi- 
gation into  subject. 

Reorganisation  of  the  Treasury  Department. — (25th  Cong.,  2d 
sess.  H.  Rept.  81.  Ser.  No.  333.  Wash.,  1837.)  Report  of  the 
Committee  on  Commerce. 

Treasury  Department. —  (38th  Cong.,  1st  sess.  H.  Rept.  140. 
Ser.  No.  1207.  Wash.,  1864.)  Report  of  select  committee  appointed 
by  the  House  to  inquire  into  conduct  of  business  in  Treasury. 

United  States  securities. — (4Oth  Cong.,  3d  sess.  S.  Rept.  273. 
Ser.  No.  1362.  Wash.,  1869.)  Report  of  joint  select  committee  on 
retrenchment  on  Treasury  methods  oi  printing  and  guarding  securi- 
ties of  United  States.  Expenditures,  $3,948.84. 

Contracts  in  the  Treasury  Department. — (41  st  Cong.,  3d  sess. 
H.  Rept.  51,  Ser.  No.  1464.  Wash.,  1871.)  Report  of  Committee 
on  Expenditures  on  Public  Buildings  upon  House  resolution 
ordering  an  investigation  of  administration  of  Supervising 
Architect. 

Accounts  of  the  Treasury  Department. —  (44th  Cong.,  1st  sess. 
S.  Rept.  371.  Ser.  No.  1668.  Wash.,  1876.)  Report  by  Committee 
on  Finance  upon  Senate  resolution  to  investigate  books  and  accounts 
of  Treasury. 

Investigation  of  accounts  of  the  Treasury  Department. — (46th 
Cong.,  2d  sess.  S.  Rept.  539.  Ser.  No.  1897.  Wash.,  1880.)  On 
Senate  resolution,  a  committee  of  five  were  appointed  to  investigate 
the  finance  reports,  books,  and  accounts  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment. Two  experts  at  $6  per  diem  paid  from  contingent  fund  of 
Senate. 

Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Printing. —  (5ist  Cong.,  1st  sess.  S. 
Ex.  Doc.  175.  Ser.  No.  2688.  Wash.,  1890.)  Response  of  Secre- 
tary of  Treasury  in  answer  to  Senate  resolution  calling  for  infor- 
mation relative  to  expenditures  and  amount  of  work  performed 
in  the  Bureau  of  Engraving  and  Printing. 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. — (See  "Gen- 
eral." Wash.,  1888.) 

Conduct  of  the  Office  of  the  Supervising  Architect. —  (=;ist  Cong., 
2d  sess.  S.  Rept.  2615.  Ser.  No.  2828.  Wash.,  1891.)  Inquiry  by 
Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds  into  conduct  of  Super- 
vising Architect's  Office. 

Executive  departments,  organisation,  etc. — (See  "General." 
Wash.,  1893.) 

Secret  Service,  inquiry  into. —  (6oth  Cong.,  2d  sess.  S.  Rept. 
970.  Ser.  No.  5383.  Wash.,  1909.)  Report  of  Committee  on  Ap- 
propriations in  response  to  Senate  resolution  ordering  an  inquiry 
into  conduct  of  bureau. 

49 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


WAR 

Reorganisation  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department. — (i8th  Cong., 
2d  sess.  H.  Kept.  4.  Ser.  No.  122.  Wash.,  1824.)  Inquiry  by 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs  upon  resolution  of  the  House  report 
and  bill  on  reorganization. 

Coast  Survey. — (27th  Cong.,  3d  sess.  H.  Kept.  170.  Ser.  No. 
427.  Wash.,  1843.)  Report  by  Select  Committee  on  Coast  Survey 
and  of  Weights  and  Measures,  concluding  with  testimony.  Opinions 
of  Mr.  Ayerigg,  who  reported,  are  unfavorable  to  methods  and 
accomplishment  of  the  survey.  (See  also  Mr.  Mallory's  report,  ^th 
Cong.,  3d  sess.  H.  Rept.  43.  Wash.,  1843.) 

Superintendent  of  national  armories. —  (33d  Cong.,  1st  sess.  H. 
Misc.  Doc.  76.  Ser.  No.  741.  Wash.,  1854.)  Testimony  before  se- 
lect committee  of  the  Senate  to  inquire  and  report  whether  appoint- 
ment of  military  officers  to  superintend  construction  of  lighthouses, 
works  of  river  and  harbor  improvement,  etc.,  is  compatible  with 
public  interest.  General  inquiry  into  management  of  business  of 
public  works. 

Expenditures  in  the  War  Department. — (42d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  H. 
Rept.  87.  Ser.  No.  1576.  Wash.,  1873.)  Committee  on  Expendi- 
tures directed  by  House  resolution  to  inquire  whether  expenditures 
are  justified  by  law,  vouchers  retained,  necessary  machinery  for  bet- 
ter accountancy  of  public  money,  how  best  to  retrench,  what  offices 
and  services  may  be  discontinued. 

Management  of  the  War  Department. — (44th  Cong.,  ist  sess. 
H.  Rept.  799.  Ser.  No.  1715.  Wash.,  1876.)  Inquiry  by  commit- 
tee into  management  of  affairs. 

Reorganisation  of  the  Army. — (45th  Cong.,  30!  sess.  S.  Rept. 
555.  Ser.  No.  1837.  Wash.,  1878.)  Report  of  joint  committee  on 
reorganization.  Created  by  act  of  Congress.  Expenditures,  $5,232.67. 

Efficiency  of  the  several  departments. — (46th  Cong.,  3d  sess. 
S.  Ex.  Doc.' 20.  Ser.  No.  1941.  Wash.,  1881.)  Letter  from  Secre- 
tary of  War  in  response  to  Senate  resolution  directing  the  Secre- 
taries of  State,  War,  Navy,  and  Interior  Departments,  Postmaster 
General,  and  Attorney  General  to  report  necessary  changes  in  legis- 
lation to  promote  efficiency  and  economy. 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. — (See  "Gen- 
eral." Wash.,  1888.) 

Executive  departments,  organization,  etc. — (See  "General." 
Wash.,  1893.) 

Buildings  rented  by  the  War  Department. — (58th  Cong.,  2d  sess. 
S.  Doc.  101.  Ser.  No.  4588..  Wash.,  1904.)  Reply  of  Secretary 
to  Senate  resolution  directing  the  transmission  to  the  Senate  of  a 
statement  of  quarters  and  buildings  rented  by  War  Department. 

JUSTICE 

Management  of  the  Department  of  Justice. — (46th  Cong.,  3d 
sess.  S.  Ex.  Doc.  i.  Ser.  No.  1941.  Wash.,  1880.)  Letter  from 
Attorney  General  in  response  to  resolution  calling  for  recommenda- 
tions from  heads  of  departments  concerning  possible  necessary 
changes  in  laws  regulating  the  management  of  the  departments. 

50 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. — (See  "Gen- 
eral." Wash.,  1888.) 

Executive  departments,  organisation,  etc. —  (See  "General." 
Wash.,  1893.) 

POST   OFFICE 

Affairs  of  the  Post  Office  Department. — (i6th  Cong.,  2d  sess. 
H.  Kept.  65.  Ser.  No.  57.  Wash.,  1821.)  Investigation  by  select 
committee  in  re  expenditure,  contracts,  and  accounting  methods. 
Post  Office  affairs. — (i7th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  H.  Kept.  104.  Ser. 
No.  71.  Wash.,  1822.)  Report  of  select  committee  on  fiscal  affairs 
of  the  Post  Office. 

Post  Office  Department. — (2ist  Cong.,  2d  sess.  S.  Kept.  73. 
Ser.  No.  204.  Wash.,  1831.)  Report  of  committee  appointed  in  pur- 
suance of  Senate  resolution  on  administration,  personnel,  and  gen- 
eral management  of  the  department.  , 

Examination  of  the  Post  Office  Department. — (23d  Cong.,  2d 
sess.  H.  Rept.  103.  Ser.  No.  277.  Wash.,  1835.)  Report  of  select 
committee  appointed  under  House  resolution  to  examine  condition 
and  proceedings  of  the  department.  Main  inquiry  was  financial. 

Post  Office  Department. —  (24th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  S.  Doc.  289. 
Ser.  No.  282.  Wash.,  1836.)  Report  of  the  accountants  engaged 
to  examine  the  accounts  of  the  Post  Office. 

Changes  of  law  affecting  the  Post  Office  Department. — (46th 
Cong.,  3d  sess.  S.  Ex.  Doc.  16.  Ser.  No.  1941.  Wash.,  1881.) 
Response  of  Postmaster  General  to  Senate  resolution  in  re  desir- 
able changes  in  laws  affecting  management  of  the  department. 

Railway  Mail  Service. — (48th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  H.  Ex.  Doc.  35. 
Ser.  No.  2196.  Wash.,  1884.)  Report  of  commission  appointed 
by  Postmaster  General  in  compliance  with  act  of  Congress  on  a  sys- 
tem for  gauging  rates  of  pay  for  carrying  the  mails  on  railroad 
routes. 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. — (See  "Gen- 
eral." Wash.,  1888.) 

Executive  departments,  organization,  etc. — (See  "General."  Wash., 

18930 

Postal  service. — (56th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  S.  Doc.  89.  Ser.  Nos. 
4036,  4037,  4038.  3  vols.  Wash.,  1901.)  Report  of  joint  commission 
appointed  by  congressional  act  to  inquire  into  prices  paid  for  mail 
transportation  and  postal  service  generally.  Appropriations: 

1899 $10,000.00 

1900 8,658.93 

1901  3>I93-21 


Total $21,852.14 

Ocean  mail  service,  accounts  paid  for. —  (57th  Con-?.,  ist  sess.  S. 
Doc.  87.  Ser.  No.  4226.  Wash.,  1902.)  Report  of  Postmaster  Gen- 
eral in  response  to  Senate  resolution  calling  for  information  in  re 
contracts  for  ocean  mail  service. 

Business  methods  of  the  post  office. —  (6oth  Cong.,  ist  sess.  S. 
Rept.  201.  Ser.  No.  5221.  Wash.,  1908.)  Preliminary  report  of  the 

51 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

joint  commission  authorized  by  Congress  to  investigate  business  sys- 
tem of  the  post  office.  For  final  report  see  Ser.  No.  5381.  Ex- 
penditures : 

1907 $15,000.00 

1908 59,661.01 

1909 3,545-98 


Total  $78,206.99 

Original  appropriation   $75,000.00 


NAVY 


•M, 


Military  and  naval  expenditures. —  (5th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Kept. 
123.  American  State  Papers,  Finance;  Vol.  I,  507.  Wash.,  1798.) 
Report  by  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  answer  to  House  resolution 
requiring  information  in  re  sums  advanced  for  military  matters,  ac- 
counts of  quartermasters,  etc. 

Expenditures  in  the  Navy  Department. — (i6th  Cong.,  2d  sess.   H. 
Kept.  67.     Ser.  No.  57.     Wash.,  1821.)     An  explanation  of  impossi- 
bility  of   regular   committee    carrying   on   special   investigation   into 
\  business  of  department. 

Marine  hospitals. — (26th  Cong.,   ist  sess.     S.  Rept.  8.     Ser.  No. 
|54.     Wash.,   1839.)     Reply  of  Secretary  of  Treasury  in  answer  to 
rlouse  resolution  in  re  expediency  of  a  change  in  system  of  marine 
hospitals. 

Reorganisation — Navy. —  (27th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Doc.  167.  Ser. 
No.  404.  Wash.,  1842.)  Report  on  reorganization  by  Secretary  of 
Navy  in  answer  to  House  resolution  calling  for  same.  (See  also 
"Report  of  Secretary  of  Navy,"  26th  Cong.,  1st  sess.  H.  Doc.  39. 
Ser.  No.  364.  Wash.,  1839.) 

Marine  engines. —  (38th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Rept.  8.  Ser.  No. 
1235.  Wash.,  1865.)  By  House  resolution  Committee  on  Naval 
Affairs  report  on  structure,  inferior  speed,  and  authorization  of  new 
marine  engines. 

Charges  against  the  Navy  Department. —  (42d  Cong.,  2d  sess. 
H.  Misc.  Doc.  201.  Ser.  No.  1527.  Wash.,  1872.)  Select  com- 
mittee appointed  by  Speaker  to  report  evidence  and  opinions  as  to 
administration  of  affairs  and  business  methods  in  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment. (See  also  Mr.  Sargent's  Report,  42d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H. 
Rept.  80.  Ser.  No.  1542.  Wash.,  1872.) 

Reduction  of  navy  yards  and  navy  hospitals. —  (43d  Cong.,  2d 
sess.  S.  Rept.  565.  Ser.  No.  1632.  Wash.,  1875.)  Report  of 
Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  instructed  to  inquire  into  expediency 
of  reducing  the  number  of  navy  yards  and  naval  hospitals  on 
Atlantic  coast. 

Investigation  of  the  Navy  Department. —  (44th  Cong.,  ist  sess. 
H.  Rept.  784.  Ser.  No.  1712.  Wash.,  1876.)  By  order  of  House 
resolution,  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  reports  on  use  and  purchase 
of  material  in  the  Navy  Department. 

Contracts  of  the  Navy  Department. —  (45th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H. 
Rept.  787.  Ser.  No.  1825.  Wash.,  1878.)  Inquiry  by  Committee 
on  Expenditures  in  the  Navy  Department  in  response  to  order  of 

52 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

the  House  into  expenditures,  receipts,  debt,  and  claims  against  the 
department. 

Investigation  of  the  Navy  Department. —  (45th  Cong.,  3d  sess. 
H.  Rept.  112.  Ser,  No.  1866.  Wash.,  1879.)  By  House  resolution 
Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  reports  on  condition  of  administra- 
tion, presence  of  abuses  or  frauds,  and  proposes  necessary  changes. 

Organisation  of  certain  bureaus. — (49th  Cong.,  1st  sess.  S. 
Rept.  1285.  Ser.  No.  2361.  Wash.,  1886.)  Report  of  joint  com- 
mission on  present  organization  of  Signal  Service,  Geological  Sur- 
vey, Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  and  the  Hydrographic  Office  of  the 
Navy  Department.  Aimed  to  secure  greater  efficiency  and  economy 
of  administration. 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. —  (See  "Gen- 
eral." Wash.,  1888.) 

Executive  departments,  organization,  etc. — (See  "General." 
Wash.,  1893.) 

Personnel  of  the  Navy. — (53d  Cong.,  1st  sess.  H.  Rept.  122. 
Ser.  No.  3157.  Wash.,  1893.)  Reports  from  Committee  on  Naval 
Affairs.  Report  concerns  possible  improvement  of  personnel  and 
methods  of  promotion.  (See  alst)  H.  Rept.  1573,  53d  Cong.,  3d 
sess.  Ser.  No.  3345.  Wash.,  1895.) 

Total  cost  of  personnel  of  Navy. —  (55th  Cong.,  3d  sess.  S.  Doc. 
115.  Ser.  No.  3735.  Wash.,  1899.)  Report  of  Secretary  in  re- 
sponse to  Senate  resolution  inquiring  into  cost  of  Navy  personnel. 

Ages,  etc.,  of  employees  in  Navy  Department. — (57th  Cong.,  1st 
sess.  S.  Doc.  66.  Ser.  No.  4226.  Wash.,  1901.)  Response  of 
Secretary  in  answer  to  Senate  resolution  calling  for  information 
in  re  employees. 

Staff  Corps  increase. — (57th  Cong.,  1st  sess.  S.  Doc.  395.  Ser. 
No.  4245.  Wash.,  1902.)  At  instance  of  several  bureau  heads  Com- 
mittee on  Naval  Affairs  held  hearings  to  inquire  into  need  of  ad- 
ditional staff  force. 

Navy  yards,  board  to  investigate  administration  of  (Recom- 
mendation of  passage  of  H.  J.  Res.  239  authorizing  appointment  of 
such  a  board.)  —  (59th  Cong.  H.  Rept.  8019,  vol.  2.)  Do  not 
find  board  was  appointed. 

Contracts  for  armor  plate. — Letter  from  Secretary  of  Navy  in 
re  cancelling  of  contract  with  Midvale  Co. — (58th  Cong.,  3d  sess. 
H.  Doc.  351,  vol.  53.  Ser.  No.  4832.  Wash.,  1905.)  Report  of 
Secretary  in  response  to  House  Resolution  calling  for  information. 

Methods  of  business  and  expenditures  in  Navy  Department,  in- 
quiry into. — (6oth  Cong.  S.  Doc.  693,  vol.  21.  -Ser.  No.  5408. 
Wash.,  1909.)  Statement  of  Secretary  before  Committee  on  Naval 
Affairs  instructed  by  Senate  resolution  to  inquire  into  business  meth- 
ods in  department. 

INTERIOR 

Condition  of  the  General  Land  Office. —  (47th  Cong.,  1st  sess. 
S.  Rept.  362.  Ser.  No.  2006.  Wash.,  1882.)  Report  from  Commit- 
tee on  Public  Lands  in  response  to  Senate  resolution  authorizing 
an  investigation  into  conditions  under  which  employees  are  work- 
ing, possible  improvements,  and  correction  of  existing  abuses  in 
administration. 

S3 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Geological  Survey. — (49th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  H.  Rept.  2214.  Ser. 
No.  2441.  Wash.,  1886.)  Report  from  Commission  on  Signal  Ser- 
vice, Geological  Survey,  etc.,  recommending  the  restriction  of  pub- 
lications and  work  of  the  Geological  Survey.  Expenses,  $1,490.50. 

Pension  Office  investigation. —  (52d  Cong.,  ist  sess.  H.  Rept.  1868. 
Ser.  No.  3049.  Wash.,  1892.)  Report  of  select  committee  of  House 
under  House  resolution  ordering  an  investigation  and  report  on 
business  methods  of  Pension  Office. 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. — (See  "Gen- 
eral." Wash.,  1888.) 

Executive  departments,  organisation,  etc. — (See  "General."    Wash., 

1893.) 

Employees,  data  in  re  employees  of  the  Department  of  Interior. 
— (57th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  S.  Doc.  66,  vol.  8.  Ser.  No.  4226.  Wash., 
1901.)  Report  of  Secretary  in  response  to  Senate  resolution  order- 
ing an  inquiry  into  facts  and  data  concerning  personnel  of  several 
departments. 

Government  Insane  Hospital,  administration  and  methods  of 
conduct  of. — (59th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Rept.  7644.  Ser.  No.  5066. 
Wash.,  1907.)  Report  in  two  volumes  by  special  committee  ap- 
pointed under  House  resolution  ordering  inquiry.  Expenses  to 
be  paid  from  contingent  fund  of  House. 

Investigation  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior  and  of  the 
Bureau  of  Forestry. —  (6ist  Cong.,  3d  sess.  S.  Doc.  719.  Ser.  No. 
5892.  Wash.,  1911.)  Inquiry  ordered  by  House  joint  resolution. 
Expenditures,  1910,  $20,000;  1911,  $1,434.20;  total,  $21,434.20. 

AGRICULTURE 

Agriculture,  report  of  the  Commissioner  of. —  (4oth  Cong.,  2d 
sess.  H.  Ex.  Doc.  91.  Ser.  No.  1332.  Wash.,  1868.)  Response 
to  House  resolution  instructing  commissioner  to  report  condition 
of  department  and  legislation  necessary  to  render  department,  through 
reorganization,  efficient  to  carry  on  its  work. 

Agriculture,  Department  of. —  (43d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Rept.  135. 
Ser.  No.  1657.  Wash.,  1875.)  Inquiry  by  Committee  on  Agriculture 
into  work  and  personnel  of  department. 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. — (See  "Gen- 
eral." Wash.,  1888.) 

Executive  departments,  organization,  etc. — (See  "General." 
Wash.,  1893.) 

Forestry  investigations  and  work  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture.—  (55th  Cong.,  3d  sess.  H.  Doc.  181.  Ser.  No.  3813.  Wash., 
1899.)  In  act  appropriating  for  Department  of  Agriculture  it  was 
ordered  that  the  Secretary  report  on  the  investigations  in  forestry 
and  the  progress  of  work  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 

Expenditures  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture. —  (59th  Cong.,  2d 
sess.  H.  Rept.  8147.  Ser.  No.  5065.  Wash.,  1907.)  Inquiry  by  the 
Committee  on  Expenditures  into  business  of  accounting  in  the  de- 
partment. 

Agriculture — Employees. —  (57th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  S.  Doc.  24, 
vol.  2.  Ser.  No.  4220.  Wash.,  1901.)  Data  in  re  employees  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture. 

54 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Accounting  system  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture. —  (59th 
Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Kept.  8147,  vol.  2.  Wash.,  1906.) 

COMMERCE    AND    LABOR 

Investigation  of  United  States  Fish  Commission. —  (5ist  Cong., 
2d  sess.  S.  Kept.  2361.  Ser.  No.  2828.  Wash.,  1891.)  Report  by 
subcommittee  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Fish  and  Fisheries,  on 
administration  and  morale  of  the  commission. 

Executive  departments,  organization,  etc. —  (See  "General." 
Wash.,  1893.) 

Permanent  Census  Bureau. — (52d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Rept. 
2393.  Ser.  No.  3141.  Wash.,  1893.)  Report  of  select  committee  to 
whom  was  referred  the  House  resolution  instructing  them  to  inquire 
into  expediency  of  establishing  a  permanent  bureau.  See  also  Senate 
Executive  Document  No.  I,  Fifty-second  Congress,  first  session. 

Immigration  Service  in  San  Francisco,  investigation  of. —  (58th 
Cong.,  3d  sess.  H.  Doc.  166.  Ser.  No.  4830.  Wash.,  1905.)  Re- 
port of  Secretary  in  response  to  act  of  Congress  (sundry  civil  act). 

Employees — Data  in  re  employees  in  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor. —  (57th  Cong.,  1st  sess.  S.  Doc.  23,  vol.  2.  Ser.  No.  4220. 
Wash.,  1901.) 

Bureau,  of  Manufactures. — (59th  Cong.,  1st  sess.  S.  Rept.  2748. 
Ser.  No.  4905.  Wash.,  1906.)  Report  by  Committee  on  Manufac- 
tures upon  amendment  to  House  bill  16472,  having  to  do  with  en- 
largement of  the  force  in  bureau.  The  committee  have  inquired  into 
organization  and  needs  of  bureau  and  its  needs  for  greater  effi- 
ciency. 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

Public  printing. — (23d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  S.  Rept.  122.  Ser.  No.  268. 
Wash.,  1819.)  Report  of  joint  committee  recommending  a  plan  for 
having  the  public  printing  done. 

Public  printing. — (i5th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  S.  Doc.  99.  Ser.  No.  15. 
Wash.,  1819.)  Report  by  joint  committee  on  subject  of  public  print- 
ing and  how  it  shall  be  carried  on. 

Public  printing. —  (26th  Cong.,  1st  sess.  H.  Rept.  298.  Ser.  No. 
370.  Wash.,  1840.)  Report  of  committee  elected  by  the  House  to 
consider  and  investigate  the  subject  of  public  printing  as  to  just  and 
reasonable  compensation,  etc.  Contains  minority  report  and  answers 
to  interrogations  of  the  committee. 

Public  printing. —  (27th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  S.  Rept.  332.  Ser.  No. 
398.  W'ash.,  1842.)  Report  by  Committee  on  Printing.  Summarizes 
rather  broadly  previous  investigations  into  costs,  etc.,  connected  with 
public  printing. 

Public  printing. —  (3ist  Cong.,  1st  sess.  H.  Misc.  Doc.  55.  Ser. 
No.  582.  Wash.,  1850.)  Report  of  select  committee  appointed  by 
House  to  inquire  into  combination  to  break  up  contract  system  as 
regards  public  printing. 

Public  printing. —  (36th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  H.  Rept.  249.  Ser.  No. 
1068.  Wash.,  1860.)  Inquiry  by  Committee  on  Public  Expenditures 
in  response  to  House  resolution  instructing  it  to  inquire  into  rates 
and  fix  just  limits. 

Public  printing. —  (40th  Cong.,  3d  sess.     S.  Rept.  247.     Ser.  No. 

55 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

1362.  Wash.,  1869.)  Committee  on  Printing  instructed  by  Senate 
to  report  on  cost  of  each  document  issued  annually  by  Government, 
possible  curtailment  of  publications,  and  requisite  changes  in  existing 
laws  in  re  publication  of  United  States  laws. 

Printing  investigation. —  (4ist  Cong.,  2d  sess.  S.  Kept.  264.  Ser. 
No.  1409.  Wash.,  1870.)  Report  from  Committee  on  Printing,  di- 
rected by  order  of  Senate  to  inquire  into  and  report  on  certain  charges 
of  maladministration  in  the  Printing  Office.  (See  also  H.  Kept.  2740, 
49th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  Ser.  No.  2443.  Wash.,  1886.) 

Investigation  of  the  Government  Printing  Office. — (44th  Cong., 
ist  sess.  H.  Kept.  495.  Ser.  No.  1710.  Wash.,  1876.)  In  answer  to 
House  resolution,  Committee  on  Printing  investigate  costs,  economy 
in  management,  etc.,  in  office. 

Government  Printing  Office.—  (45th  Cong.,  3d  sess.  H.  Kept.  119, 
Ser.  No.  1867.  Wash.,  1879.)  Upon  House  resolution,  Committee 
on  Public  Expenditures  investigate  and  report  on  conduct  of  affairs  ^in 
the  Government  Printing  Office.  Evidence,  majority  and  minority 
reports  included. 

Public  documents. — (47th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  H.  Misc.  Doc.  12.  Ser. 
No.  2115.  Wash.,  1882.)  Report  by  committee  comprising  superin- 
tendent of  documents,  Librarian  of  Congress,  and  Secretary  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  under  House  resolution,  asking  for  compila- 
tion of  laws  and  regulations  governing  printing  and  distribution  of 
documents  and  suggestions  for  economy. 

Administration  of  the  Government  Printing  Office. — (soth  Cong., 
ist  sess.  H.  Rept.  3300.  Ser.  No.  2608.  Wash.,  1888.)  By  resolu- 
tion of  House  Committee  on  Printing  was  instructed  to  investigate 
administration  of  office,  causes  for  delay,  appointments  and  dismissals. 

Methods  of  business  in  the  executive  departments. — (See  "Gen- 
eral." Wash.,  1888.) 

Public  printing. — (52d  Cong.,   ist  sess.     S.  Rept.   18.     Ser.  No. 
2911.     Wash.,  1892.)     An  elaborate  report  by  special  committee  of 
House  on  public  printing  and  its  management. 
Executive  departments,  organisation,  etc. —  (See  "General."  Wash.. 

18930 

Ages,  etc.,  in  Government  Printing  Office. —  (57th  Cong.,  ist  sess. 
S.  Doc.  25.  Ser.  No.  4220.  Wash.,  1901.)  Report  of  Public  Printer  in 
response  to  Senate  resolution  requesting  data  in  re  employees  of  office. 

Cost  of  printing  special  edition  of  Congressional  Record,  investi- 
gation of. — (59th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  S.  Doc.  108,  vol.  3.  Ser.  No.  5070. 
Wash.,  1905;)  Report  of  Public  Printer  in  compliance  with  Senate 
resolution  calling  for  information. 

Printing  Investigation  Commission. — (6oth  Cong.,  and  following 
years.  Wash.,  1905.)  Report  of  select  committee  to  inquire  into 
condition  of  affairs  in  Printing  Office  and  -to  suggest  possible  econo- 
mies. The  reports  are  numerous.  Expenditures: 

1907 $2,000.00 

1908 5335.16 

1909 4,000.00 

1910 4,664.84 

1911  6,925.22 

Total    $23,425.22 

Appropriated   1907    $12,000.00 

56 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 


Select  Committee  on  Methods  of  Business  in  the  Exec- 
utive Departments  (Cockrell  Committee)  1887-1889.  On 
March  3,  1887,  the  Senate,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Cockrell,  passed 
the  following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  a  select  committee  to  consist  of  five  Sen- 
ators be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  constituted  and  appointed, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  inquire  into  and  examine  the  methods 
of  business  and  work  in  the  Executive  Departments  of  the 
Government,  the  time  and  attention  devoted  to  the  operations 
thereof  by  the  persons  employed  therein,  and  generally  to  in- 
quire into  and  report  to  the  Senate  the  causes  of  the  delays  in 
transacting  the  public  business  said  to  exist  in  some  of  said 
Departments. 

The  committee  was  also  authorized  to  employ  a  clerk  and 
a  stenographer  and  to  send  for  persons  and  papers. 

Messrs.  Cockrell,  Harris,  Jones  of  Arkansas,  Platt  and 
Cullom  were  appointed  as  members  of  the  select  committee. 

The  passage  of  this  resolution  was  the  result  of  the  wide- 
spread criticism  of  the  delay  that  existed  in  many  of  the  serv- 
ices of  the  government  in  the  performance  of  their  duties. 
Not  a  few  bureaus  were  months  and  even  years  behind  in  their 
work.  The  feeling  was  very  strong  that  this  delay  was  only 
partially  due  to  an  inadequate  force ;  that  primarily  it  was  due 
to  archaic  business  methods  and  especially  to  the  performance 
of  much  useless  work. 

The  first  step  taken  by  the  committee  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  inquiry  consisted  in  the  sending  of  two  letters  to  the 
heads  of  the  departments,  under  date  of  March  18,  1887,  call- 
ing upon  them  to  report  regarding  the  condition  of  work  with- 
in their  departments  and  to  supply  data  regarding  their  or- 
ganization and  business  methods. 

The  first  of  these  letters  called  for  a  detailed  statement 
of  the  methods  of  transacting  business  in  each  division  of  each 
bureau  of  the  department,  "including  one  or  more  items  of  the 
principal  business  matters  transacted  in  each  of  such  divisions, 
beginning  with  the  receipt  of  the  business  matter  in  the  De- 

57 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

partment,  and  then  showing,  in  consecutive  order,  the  various 
steps  taken  by  each  of  such  business  matters  through  the  vari- 
ous divisions"  and  the  "employees  through  whose  hands  the 
same  passes  and  by  whom  it  is  considered  and  acted  upon,  and 
the  action  thereon  had  and  taken  by  each,  till  the  same  is  fi- 
nally disposed  of  and  notice  duly  given  to  the  proper  party." 

The  other  letter  called  for  a  detailed  statement  from  each 
department  and  service,  showing  the  amount  and  character 
of  business  in  hand,  pending  and  undisposed  of,  in  each  divi- 
sion on  January  i,  1884,  1885,  1886,  1887,  and  on  March  I, 
1887;  the  amount  and  character  of  business  received,  trans- 
acted and  disposed  of  in  each  division;  the  average  number 
of  employees  in  each  division  during  each  month  of  the  years 
1884,  1885,  1886  and  1887  up  to  March  i,  1887,  and  the  maxi- 
mum and  minimum  amount  of  business  transacted  and  dis- 
posed of  by  the  employee  doing  the  most  and  the  employee 
doing  the  least  in  each  division  during  each  month  of  the  pe- 
riod; the  average  number  of  days  and  the  time  and  attention 
devoted  to  the  consideration  and  transaction  of  business  by  the 
employees  in  each  division  and  whether  in  person  or  by  proxy, 
during  each  of  the  calendar  years  1884  to  1886  and  up  to 
March,  1887;  and  also  the  maximum  and  minimum  number  of 
days  during  each  of  those  years  so  devoted  to  business  by  the 
employee  in  each  division  present  for  the  greatest  number  of 
days  and  for  the  least  number  of  days. 

On  March  23,  1887,  a  third  letter  was  sent  to  the  same  of- 
ficials, which  was  not  identical,  but  the  purport  of  which  was 
the  same  in  each  case,  calling  for  a  statement  of  the  present 
legal  organization  of  each  department  and  the  number  and 
classes  of  officers  and  employees  in,  and  the  designation  of, 
each  bureau,  division,  station  or  other  unit  in  and  outside  of 
Washington. 

Finally,  the  committee  caused  certain  items  of  business  to 
be  traced  in  consecutive  order  through  the  various  steps  taken 
from  the  beginning  of  action  to  the  final  consummation.  These 
studies  covered  business  matters  originating  in  the  Treasury 
Department  and  also  in  other  departments  and  coming  into  the 
Treasury  Department.  The  transactions  selected  were:  the 
purchase  of  stationery  for  the  use  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment; an  account  for  salary  and  fees  of  a  United  States  consul ; 

58 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

a  requisition  of  a  United  States  marshal  for  funds;  an  account 
of  a  United  States  marshal  for  fees  and  expenses;  a  district 
attorney's  account  for  fees,  etc. ;  the  accounts  of  a  quartermas- 
ter of  the  United  States  Army  for  the  fiscal  year  1885 ;  an  ac- 
count of  a  receiver  of  public  money  at  a  local  United  States 
land  office;  and  the  adjustment  and  payment  of  a  claim  for 
quartermaster  stores. 

On  the  basis  of  the  information  secured  by  these  means, 
Mr.  Cockrell,  on  behalf  of  the  committee,  submitted  to  the 
Senate  on  March  8,  1888,  in  addition  to  two  minor  bills,1  a  re- 
port which  was  published  as  Senate  Report  No.  507,  5oth  Con- 
gress, ist  Session.  The  report  proper  covered  272  pages,  but 
attached  to  it  were  supporting  statements,  consisting  chiefly 
of  replies  of  the  departments  to  letters  of  inquiry  addressed 
to  them,  which  occupied  an  additional  1900  pages. 

This  report  more  than  substantiated  the  criticism  that  had 
been  made  against  the  administrative  services  in  respect  to 
their  failure  promptly  to  perform  their  work.  For  example, 
it  was  found  that  39  employees,  with  salaries  ranging  from 
$720  to  $1,600  per  annum,  were  engaged,  more  or  less,  in 
copying,  with  pen  and  ink,  the  letter  press  copies  of  letters  into 
record  books.  Cases  of  employees  furnishing  proxies  or  su 
stitutes  to  perform  their  work  at  their  salaries  or  at  reduced 
compensations  were  found  in  three  of  the  executive  depart- 
ments. On  August  20,  1887,  there  were  in  the  General  Land 
Office  a  total  of  276,670  individual  cases  pending  and  undis- 
posed of  and  14,000  unanswered  letters.  There  were  47,000 
claims  of  soldiers,  their  widows  and  orphans,  pending  for  ad- 
justment before  the  Second  Auditor.  An  engineer  officer's  re- 
quest for  approval  of  the  employment  of  two  pilots,  one  for 
$25  and  the  other  for  $150,  in  its  course  from  the  officer 
through  the  War  Department,  its  return  to  that  officer  and  its 
return  again  by  him  to  the  War  Department,  was  handled  by 
officers  and  clerks  76  times,  and  including  messenger  service, 
94  times. 

1  One  provided  .for  continuing  the  work  of  classified  abridgment  of 
letters  patent  granted  by  the  United  States ;  the  other  authorized  and 
provided  for  the  disposition  of  useless  papers  in  the  executive  de- 
partments. The  latter  was  enacted  February  16,  1889.  Mr.  Cockrell 
also  asked  at  the  same  time  that  the  committee  be  continued  the  re- 
mainder of  the  session,  which  was  done. 

59 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  following  extracts  from  the  report  of  the  committee 
show  in  brief  the  conditions  found  as  a  result  of  their  in- 
quiries : 

In  the  Treasury  Department,  the  War  Department  and  the 
Interior  Department,  and  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  other 
Departments,  there  are  more  briefings,  notations,  and  record 
entries  made,  copying  done,  and  record  books  kept  than  is 
necessary  or  requisite  in  preserving  proper  records  of  the 
transactions  of  the  public  business  or  as  safeguards  and  checks 
against  error,  mistakes  or  frauds. 

The  items  of  business  matters  are  required  to  pass  through 
the  hands  of  too  many  different  officers  and  employees  and 
through  the  hands  of  the  same  persons  too  often,  thus  causing 
the  consumption  of  too  much  time  in  the  disposition  thereof 
and  dividing  the  responsibility  therefor  among  too  many  dif- 
ferent employees.  Some  one  clerk  or  employee,  too  often  of 
the  lower  grades  or  classes  as  to  salary,  makes  the  examina- 
tion and  adjustment,  and  places  his  initials  thereon,  and  all 
the  others  through  whose  hands  the  item  of  business  may  pass 
in  its  routine,  act  simply  upon  the  faith  of  the  initials  so  made 
by  the  one  clerk  or  employee. 

The  committee  reported  that  it  could  not  undertake  the 
labor  and  time  necessary  to  investigate  and  determine  all  steps 
taken  in  the  transaction  of  the  multitudinous  items  of  busi- 
ness matters  coming  before  the  various  departments  and  to 
point  out  the  steps  in  the  present  system  which  could  be  left 
out  without  detriment  to  accuracy  and  safety.  It,  therefore, 
recommended  as  the  most  feasible  and  practical  remedy  that 
the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  and  War  Departments  each 
appoint  a  commission  to  consider  and  revise  the  methods  of 
business  in  his  department. 

In  defining  the  duties  of  these  proposed  departmental  com- 
missions the  select  committee  said : 

This  committee  or  commission  in  each  Department  should 
personally  trace  from  inception  to  final  disposition  the  various 
classes  of  public  business  therein  transacted,  and  ascertain  the 
exact  number  of  persons,  officers,  or  employees  through  whose 
hands  the  same  passes,  the  time,  attention  and  labor  devoted 
thereto,  the  kind  of  work  done  thereto,  and  the  entries  and 
records  made  by  each.  With  this  data  plainly  and  fully  before 

60 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

them,  and  understood  by  them,  they  ought  to  be  able  to  de- 
termine with  certainty,  safety  and  accuracy  exactly  what  can 
be  omitted,  what  is  necessary  to  be  added,  and  the  safe  and 
proper  changes  to  be  made,  and  then  devise  and  prepare  judi- 
cious, safe,  and  correct  methods  for  the  transaction  of  the 
various  classes  of  public  business,  so  that  they  can  be 
finally  disposed  of  with  the  greatest  possible  degree  of  cor- 
rectness and  promptness,  and  with  the  least  possible  labor, 
briefing,  notating,  and  copying,  and  with  the  smallest  number 
of  record  entries  and  record  books,  and  by  passing  through  as 
few  different  hands  as  possible,  etc. 

When  they  have  completed  their  work  and  prepared  the 
report  thereof,  they  should  then  present  the  same  to  the  Sec- 
retary appointing  them,  and  if  approved  by  him,  or  when  cor- 
rected and  approved  by  him,  after  full  consultation,  then  the 
Secretary  should  cause  the  methods  of  business  so  determined 
upon  to  be  strictly  and  rigidly  carried  out  in  every  bureau  and 
division  of  his  Department,  and  hold  the  chiefs  of  bureaus  and 
divisions  to  a  strict  accountability  for  the  adoption  and  en- 
forcement of  such  methods. 

If  it  should  be  found  that  legislation  is  necessary  to  adopt 
or  carry  out  the  proposed  methods,  the  requisite  legislation 
should  be  proposed  and  submitted  to  Congress  for  consider- 
ation and  action. 

Letters  were  accordingly  written  by  the  chairman  of  the 
committee,  on  February  10,  1888,  to  the  Secretaries  of  War 
and  of  the  Treasury.  On  March  20,  1888,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  appointed  a  commission  consisting  of  the  deputy 
first  auditor  and  four  division  chiefs,  and  on  March  22,  1888, 
the  Secretary  of  War  appointed  a  board  consisting  of  the 
chief  clerk  of  the  department,  a  division  chief  and  a  clerk  to 
carry  out  the  recommendations  of  the  select  committee. 

The  Treasury  Commission  took  up  the  following  subjects 
for  investigation  and  report : 

The  Offices  of  the  First,  Second,  Third  and  Fourth  Audi- 
tors and  First  and  Second  Comptrollers,  Commissioner  of  Cus- 
toms, Register  of  the  Treasury,  and  the  Miscellaneous  Division 
of  the  Secretary's  Office ;  the  warrant  system ;  letter  files ;  bond 
issues;  files  matter;  fines,  penalties,  etc.,  placed  in  suit  by  col- 
lectors of  customs ;  accounts  of  the  Lighthouse  Board ;  moneys 
appropriated  for  public  building;  sales  of  revenue-cutters  and 

61 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

marine  hospitals;  settlement  of  the  accounts  of  the  Pacific 
railroads;  accounts  current  of  aided  railway  companies; 
overdue  liabilities  of  quartermasters  and  paymasters;  Indian 
claims ;  payment  to  employees  in  public  buildings ;  presentation 
of  duplicate  vouchers ;  destruction  of  Treasury  notes,  etc. ; 
last-sickness  and  burial  claims;  and  proxies. 

As  a  result  of  the  recommendations  made  by  this  Treasury 
Commission,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  caused  the  follow- 
ing important  changes  to  be  made:  An  entire  change  of  the 
warrant  system  by  which  the  number  of  warrants  to  be  issued, 
signed,  entered  and  checked  is  but  little  more  than  one-tenth 
the  former  number;  a  briefer  and  simpler  method  of  recording 
accounts  in  the  offices  of  the  Second  Comptroller  and  First 
Auditor,  occupying  about  one-fourth  of  the  time  formerly 
required;  a  considerable  diminution  of  the  number  of  ac- 
counts by  consolidating  several  of  the  same  class  into  one 
report;  the  reduction  of  the  bulk  of  certain  accounts  to  one- 
half  their  former  size  by  discontinuing  duplicate  vouchers ; 
the  reduction  of  the  bulk  of  certain  stationery  accounts  to 
about  one-third  their  size  and  greatly  facilitating  their  settle- 
ment by  the  introduction  of  new  forms;  a  simplification  of 
some  of  the  blanks  used  in  the  accounting  offices  and  a  discon- 
tinuance of  others;  a  discontinuance  of  certain  books  of  rec- 
ord by  binding  and  preserving  original  papers  which  were 
copied  in  books;  the  discontinuance  of  the  writing,  copying, 
signing  and  transmitting  of  many  thousand  letters  which  were 
merely  formal  in  their  nature;  and  many  other  changes  of 
matters  of  detail. 

The  Treasury  Commission  recommended  among  other 
things :  A  system  of  accounts  with  officers  of  United  States 
courts ;  a  discontinuance  of  hand  copying  into  record  books  of 
letters  written  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  press  copies  or 
carbon  duplicates;  the  destruction  of  useless  files  matter; 
supervision  of  the  Lighthouse  Service  and  accounts  by  special 
agents;  the  settlement  of  all  the  accounts  of  aided  railroad 
companies  by  one  auditor  and  comptroller;  the  extension  into 
every  branch  of  the  public  service  of  payments  by  disbursing 
clerks  instead  of  by  settlement  on  separate  accounts;  and  the 
prohibition  of  clerical  work  by  proxy. 

62 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

The  report  of  the  Treasury  Commission  was  made  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  on  January  4,  1889,  and  transmitted 
by  the  latter  to  the  chairman  of  the  Senate  Select  Committee 
on  January  18,  1889. 

The  board  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of  War  considered 
and  reported  upon  the  following  topics :  Requests  for  requisi- 
tions upon  Treasury  settlement  certificates;  rules  and  regu- 
lations for  the  War  Department ;  certificates  of  deposit ;  army 
paymasters'  collections;  card-index  records  of  rolls  of  volun- 
teer army;  credit  requisitions  for  repayment  of  money  into 
the  Treasury;  requisitions  on  the  Public  Printer;  administra- 
tion ;  messenger  service ;  supply  division ;  daily  report  of  work 
done;  and  correspondence. 

In  each  case  recommendations  for  changes  and  improve- 
ments were  made  by  the  board,  which  in  nearly  all  cases  were 
followed  by  orders  of  the  Secretary  of  War  directing  the 
carrying  into  effect  of  those  recommendations. 

The  War  Department  Board  made  its  report  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  on  January  21,  1889,  and  the  latter  transmitted  i* 
to  the  chairman  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  Senate  on  Jan- 
uary 23,  1889. 

The  results  of  these  investigations  of  the  Treasury  and 
War  Department  commissions  were  embodied  in  a  second 
report  of  the  committee  which  was  presented  to  the  Senate 
by  Mr.  Cockrell,  on  March  27,  1889,  and  ordered  printed  the 
following  day. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  [of]  the  Select  committee  of  the  United  States  Senate,  ap- 
pointed under  Senate  resolution  of  March  3,  1887,  to  inquire  into 
and  examine  the  methods  of  business  and  work  of  the  executive 
departments,  etc.,  and  the  causes  of  delays  in  transacting  the  pub- 
lic business,  etc.  March  8,  1888.  3  v.  in  2.  (50th  Cong.,  1st 
sess.  Senate.  Report  507.  Serial  No.  2521-22.) 
Contents. 

Report  (272  p.). 

Detailed  statement  of  methods  of  transacting  of  sundry  items 

of  public  business,  p.  4-102. 

Copying  letter-press  copies  into   records,  p.    106-112. 
Public  and  rented  buildings,  insufficiency  of  room,  and  delay 

of  business,  p.  117-121. 
Condition  and  arrears  of  business  and  efforts  to  remedy  same, 

p.  121-234. 

Incumbrance  and  proper  disposition  of  useless  files  of  papers, 
existing  laws,  and  reports  from  War  Department,  p.  240-253. 

63 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


The  Department  of  the  Treasury  (474  p.) 

"    Interior    (493  p.) 

State        (  37  PO 

Justice     (  61  p.) 

War         (279  p.) 

"    Navy        (  81  p.) 

Post  Office  Department         (414  p.) 

'    Department  of  Agriculture   (106  p.) 

"    Government  Printing  Office  (   n  p.) 


These  pages  give 
the  replies  made  by 
the  several  bureau 
and  division  heads, 
in  each  of  the  de- 
partments, to  the  in- 
quiries of  the  com- 
mittee reg  a  r  d  i  n  g 
condition  of  work, 
organization,  and 
business  methods. 


Additional  report  of  the  Select  committee  of  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate, .  .  .  etc.    March  28,  1889.    78  p.,  Ill,  3-220  p.     (5ist  Cong., 
special  sess.,  1889.    Senate.    Report  3.    Serial  No.  2619.) 
On  verso  of  t.p. :  Treasury  document  No.  1218.     Secretary. 
Contents. 
Report,  p.  1-45. 
Business  methods  of  the  Treasury  department.     Report  of  the 

Commission  appointed  in  compliance  with  the  request  of  the 

Senate  Select  committee,  etc.,  p.  47-78. 

The  warrant  system. 

Report  on  the  offices  of  the  First  Auditor,  First  Comptroller, 
and  Commissioner  of  customs. 

Report  on  the  offices  of  the  Second,  Third  and  Fourth  Auditors 
and  Second  Comptroller. 

Report  on  letter  files. 

Report  on  bond  issues. 

Report  on  the  office  of  the  Register  of  the  Treasury. 

Fines,  penalties,  etc.,  placed  in  suit  by  collectors  of  customs. 

Accounts  of  the  Lighthouse  board. 

Moneys  appropriated  for  public  buildings. 

Sales  of  revenue-cutters  and  marine  hospitals. 

Settlement  of  the  accounts  of  the  Pacific  railroads. 

Accounts  current  of  aided  railway  companies. 

Overdue  liabilities  of  quartermasters  and  paymasters. 

Indian  claims. 

Payment  to  employees  in  public  buildings. 

Presentation  of  duplicate  vouchers. 

Change  of  the  quarters  of  the  year. 

Destruction  of  Treasury  notes,  etc. 

Last  sickness  and  burial  claims. 

The  miscellaneous  division  of  the  Secretary's  office. 

Proxies. 

A  permanent  commission  recommended. 
Business  methods  in  the  War  department.    Report  of  the  Board 

appointed  in  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  Senate  Select 

committee,  etc.     (220  p.) 

Report  of  the  Board,  p.  9-12. 

Appendixes,  p.  13-121. 

Request  for  requisitions  on  settlement  certificates. 

Rules  and  regulations  of  War  department,  June  4,  1888. 

Certificates  of  deposit. 

64 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Army  paymaster's  collections. 

Card  index  record  of  rolls  of  Volunteer  army. 

Credit  requisitions. 

Requisitions  on  Public  printing. 

Administration. 

Messenger  service. 

Supply  division. 

Daily  reports  of  work. 

Correspondence. 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


Joint  Commission  on  Executive  Departments,  Organiza- 
tion, etc.  (Dockery-Cockrell  Commission)  1893-1895. 

Though  much  good  was  accomplished  by  the  Cockrell  Com- 
mittee, it  was  recognized  that  hardly  a  beginning  had  been 
made  by  it  towards  putting  the  business  methods  of  the  depart- 
ments upon  an  efficient  basis.  The  work  of  that  committee 
demonstrated  that  if  the  best  results  were  to  be  secured  pro- 
vision must  be  made  for  a  more  comprehensive  investigation 
and  that  means  must  be  provided  for  the  employment  pf  ex- 
perts to  make  the  detailed  inquiries.  Congress  accordingly 
inserted  in  the  legislative,  executive  and  judicial  appropriation 
bill  for  1894,  approved  March  3,  1893,  a  clause  providing  for 
the  creation  of  a  special  joint  commission  of  the  two  houses 
to  undertake  such  a  work.  This  clause  read : 

That  a  joint  commission,  consisting  of  three  Senators, 
members  of  the  Fifty-third  Congress,  to  be  appointed  by  the 
present  President  of  the  Senate,  and  three  members-elect  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Fifty-third  Congress,  to 
be  appointed  by  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  Fifty-second  Congress,  shall,  during  the  Fifty-third 
Congress,  inquire  into  and  examine  the  status  of  the  laws  or- 
ganizing the  Executive  Departments,  bureaus,  divisions,  and 
other  Government  establishments  at  the  National  Capital;  the 
rules,  regulations,  and  methods  for  the  conduct  of  the  same; 
the  time  and  attention  devoted  to  the  operations  thereof  by 
the  persons  employed  therein,  and  the  degree  of  efficiency  of 
all  such  employees;  whether  any  modification  of  these  laws  can 
be  made  to  secure  greater  efficiency  and  economy,  and  whether 
a  reduction  in  the  number  or  compensation  of  the  persons 
authorized  to  be  employed  in  said  Executive  Departments  or 
bureaus  can  be  made  without  injury  to  the  public  service: 
Provided,  That  the  commission  herein  authorized  shall  have 
no  jurisdiction  to  inquire  into  and  report  on  pension  legisla- 
tion. Said  commission  is  authorized  to  employ  not  exceeding 
three  experts,  who  shall  render  such  assistance  as  the  com- 
mission may  require  in  the  prosecution  of  the  investigation 
herein  required,  and  shall  receive  such  compensation  as  the 

66 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

commission  shall  determine  to  be  just  and  reasonable.  The 
heads  of  the  respective  Executive  Departments  shall  detail 
from  time  to  time  such  officers  and  employees  as  may  be  re- 
quested by  said  commission  in  their  investigations.  Said  com- 
mission or  any  subcommittee  thereof  shall  have  power  to  send 
for  persons  and  papers,  and  to  administer  oaths,  and  such  pro- 
cess shall  be  issued  and  such  oaths  administered  by  the  chair- 
man of  the  commission  or  subcommittee,  and  the  commission 
may  report,  by  bill  or  otherwise,  to  their  respective  Houses  of 
the  Fifty-third  Congress.  All  necessary  expenses  of  said 
commission  shall  be  paid  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not 
otherwise  appropriated  upon  vouchers  approved  jointly  by 
the  chairman  of  said  commission. 

The  powers  and  duties  thus  conferred  were  subsequently 
broadened  and  made  more  specific  by  the  reference  to  the 
commission  of  certain  bills  and  the  passage  of  resolutions 
calling  upon  the  commission  to  make  other  inquiries  and  re- 
ports. 

The  commission  was  constituted  on  the  day  the  act  became 
law  through  the  appointment  of  the  following  as  its  members : 
House  representatives,  Alexander  M.  Dockery,  chairman; 
James  D.  Richardson  and  Nelson  Dingley.  Senate  repre- 
sentatives, Francis  M.  Cockrell,  chairman;  James  K.  Jones 
and  Shelby  M.  Cullom.  Mr.  Dockery  was  made  chairman  of 
the  joint  committee.  The  clerks  of  the  House  and  Senate 
Committees  on  Appropriations  were  appointed  clerks  of  the 
commission.  On  May  24,  1893,  the  commission  appointed 
Messrs.  J.  W.  Reinhart,  C.  W.  Haskins,  and  E.  W.  Sells, 
experts,  to  assist  in  the  commission's  work. 

On  June  6,  1893,  the  active  work  of  the  experts  began  with 
an  investigation  of  the  accounting  methods  in  the  Treasury 
Department,  and  continued  until  the  close  of  the  53d  Congress, 
on  March  4,  1895,  when  the  commission  terminated. 

The  first  work  of  the  commission  which  obtained  publicity 
was  a  compilation  entitled :  "References  to  laws  organizing 
executive  departments  and  other  government  establishments 
at  the  National  Capital."  This  was  presented  on  September 
30,  1893,  and  published  as  House  Report  No.  49  and  Senate 
Report  No.  41,  53d  Congress,  ist  session.  It  was  the  first 
work  of  its  character  since  the  organization  of  the  govern- 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ment  and  was  prepared  primarily  for  the  use  and  information 
of  Congress.  This  report  presented  the  references  to  statutes 
in  tabular  form,  showing  for  each  governmental  unit  the  title 
of  the  statute,  its  date,  and  the  volume,  page  and  section  of 
the  statute  books. 

The  next  report  published  was  entitled :  "Organization  of 
the  executive  departments  and  other  government  establish- 
ments at  the  National  Capital,  and  information  concerning  the 
persons  employed  therein,"  and  was  presented  to  both  houses 
of  Congress  on  October  9,  1893,  and  printed  as  House  Report 
No.  88  and  Senate  Report  No.  47,  53d  Congress,  ist  Session. 
It  shows  in  tabular  form  the  number  and  title  of  each  of  the 
eight  executive  departments  and  the  twelve  other  government 
establishments  at  the  National  Capital;  the  offices,  bureaus 
and  divisions  of  each;  the  number  of  persons  authorized  to 
be  employed  therein;  their  sex,  age,  and  number  of  years 
employed,  and  other  information  concerning  them. 

The  commission  also  made  an  inquiry  into  the  condition 
of  business  in  the  several  departments  of  the  government  at 
Washington,  which  inquiry  disclosed  that  in  but  a  small  pro- 
portion of  divisions  was  public  business  in  arrears. 

The  commission's  work,  however,  consisted  mainly  in 
studying  the  systems  of  administration,  and  recommending 
changes  in  the  law  for  the  improvement  of  existing  methods 
and  the  abolition  of  useless  work.  A  large  number  of  im- 
portant bills  were  reported  by  the  commission,  many  of  which 
were  enacted  into  law. 

The  following  laws  were  enacted  as  a  direct  result  of  the 
commission's  work : 

Enrollment  of  bills.  A  concurrent  resolution  providing  for 
dispensing  with  the  existing  form  of  engrossing  and  enrolling 
bills  and  joint  resolutions,  and  directing  the  use  of  printed 
copies  of  the  same,  agreed  to  in  the  House,  October  26,  and 
concurred  in  by  the  Senate,  March  i,  1893. 

Purchase  of  supplies.  Amendment  of  Section  3709  of  the 
Revised  Statutes  concerning  contracts  for  fuel,  ice,  stationery 
and  other  miscellaneous  supplies  for  the  executive  departments 
and  other  government  establishments  in  Washington,  approved 
January  27,  1894. 

Accounts  of  the  Treasurer.    Repeal  of  Section  311  of  the 

68 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Revised  Statutes  thereby  abolishing  a  useless  voluminous  re- 
port, approved  March  19,  1894. 

Deposits  of  Postmasters.  Amendment  of  Section  407  of 
the  Revised  Statutes  so  as  to  require  original  receipts  for 
deposits  of  postmasters  to  be  sent  to  the  Auditor  of  the  Treas- 
ury for  the  Post  Office  Department,  approved  January  22, 
1894. 

Methods  of  Accounting  in  the  Post  Office  Department,  etc. 
An  act  to  improve  the  methods  of  accounting  in  the  Post 
Office  Department  and  substituting  the  money-order  system 
for  the  postal  note,  approved  January  27,  1894. 

Property  Returns.  An  act  to  regulate  the  making  of 
property  returns  by  officers  of  the  government,  approved 
March  19,  1894. 

Destruction  of  Old  Money*  Orders.  An  act  authorizing 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  the  Postmaster  General  to 
destroy  all  money  orders  and  postal  notes  more  than  ten  years 
old  and  papers  relating  thereto,  approved  July  16,  1894. 

Methods  of  Accounting  in  the  Treasury.  An  act  to  im- 
prove the  methods  of  accounting  in  the  Treasury  Department, 
introducing  a  more  efficient  system  of  accounting,  and  abolish- 
ing the  offices  of  Commissioner  of  Customs  and  Second  Comp- 
troller. One  provision  of  this  act  resulted  in  the  consolidating 
of  the  draft  and  the  warrant  into  one  piece  of  paper  in  the 
office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Approved  July  31, 
1894. 

Reports  of  Purchases  of  Military  Supplies.  Repeal  of 
Section  229  of  the  Revised  Statutes  thereby  dispensing  with 
unnecessary  reports,  approved  March  2,  1895. 

Bonds  of  Government  Officials.  An  act  requiring  that  all 
bonds  of  certain  government  officials  shall  be  transmitted  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  filed  as  he  may  direct,  etc., 
approved  March  2,  1895. 

Names  of  Employees  in  Departments.  Repeal  of  Section 
194  of  the  Revised  Statutes  requiring  the  head  of  each  depart- 
ment to  make  an  annual  report  to  Congress  of  the  names  of 
the  clerks  and  other  persons  employed  in  each  department,  the 
offices  thereof,  etc.,  approved,  March  2,  1895. 

Purchase  of  Coal  and  Wood.  Amendment  of  Section  371 1 
of  the  Revised  Statutes  so  as  to  prohibit  payment  of  fees  for 

69 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

inspecting  coal  and  wood  purchased  for  the  use  of  the  govern- 
ment, approved  March  2,  1895. 

In  addition  to  the  above  changes  in  the  law,  the  following 
improvements  were  made,  through  the  work  of  the  joint  com- 
mission, without  legislation: 

Statistics  of  International  Money  Orders.  Dispensing  with 
a  considerable  amount  of  valueless  statistics  formerly  prepared 
by  the  Auditor  for  the  Post  Office. 

General  Land  Office.  Consolidation  of  certain  divisions  of 
the  General  Land  Office  and  the  preparation  of  patents  in 
the  Office  of  the  Recorder. 

Customs  Service.  A  change  in  the  method  of  collecting 
the  customs  and  rendering  accounts  of  the  same  to  the  Auditor 
for  the  Treasury. 

Books,  Stationery,  Rent,  etc.  Economies  effected  in  books, 
stationery,  furniture,  printing  and  room  rent  in  government 
offices  on  account  of  changes,  consolidations  and  improve- 
ment in  methods. 

A  considerable  number  of  recommendations  were  made  and 
much  information  was  furnished  by  the  joint  commission  to 
Congress  concerning  matters  which,  at  its  termination,  had 
not  resulted  in  the  enactment  of  laws  or  had  not  been  put  into 
effect  by  departmental  regulation.  These  recommendations 
related  to:  A  reorganization  of  the  Office  of  Supervising 
Architect  of  the  Treasury  Department;  methods  of  hearing 
contested  land  cases;  repeal  of  the  "Contest"  Act  of  1880; 
receivers  of  local  land  offices;  public  surveys;  abolition  of  the 
Office  of  Solicitor  of  Internal  Revenue ;  further  recommenda- 
tions concerning  bonds  of  government  officials;  checking  of 
money  orders;  abolition  of  the  Office  of  Naval  Officer  in  the 
Customs  Service,  and  system  of  writing  and  recording  letters 
sent. 

The  commission  estimated  that  the  adoption  of  its  recom- 
mendations above  outlined  effected  a  reduction  in  personnel 
of  251  clerks  earning  salaries  aggregating  $360,610  per 
annum,  and  an  annual  saving  of  $246,981  in  miscellaneous 
expenses,  or  a  total  saving  of  $607,591. 

The  other  recommendations  which  had  failed  of  adoption 
at  the  termination  of  the  commission,  would,  it  was  claimed, 
have  effected  a  total  additional  saving  of  $449,928,  of  which 

70 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

$336,928  represented  the  aggregate  salaries  of  252  clerks  and 
$113,000  miscellaneous  expenditures  which  could  have  been 
dispensed  with. 

The  total  expense  of  the  commission  amounted  to  $41,264, 
of  which  $35,614  was  paid  to  the  experts;  the  balance  was 
expended  for  clerical  service,  room  rent,  supplies,  etc. 

PUBLICATIONS 

References  to  laws  organizing  executive  departments  and  other 
government  establishments  at  the  national  capital.  Sept.  30,  1893. 
II>  17S  P-  (53d  Cong.,  ist  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  49.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  41,  53d  Cong.,  ist  sess. 

Contains  in  addition  to  references  to  and  extracts  from  all  the 
laws  organizing  executive  departments  and  other  establishments, 
references  to  laws  regulating  compensation  and  employment  of  clerks, 
copyists,  messengers,  watchmen,  and  laborers;  leaves  of  absence;  and 
hours  of  service  in  the  executive  departments,  p.  162-165. 

Organization  of  the  executive  departments  and  other  government 
establishments  at  the  national  capital,  and  information  concerning 
the  persons  employed  therein.  October  9,  1893.  2O7  P-  J  fold.  tab. 
(53d  Cong.,  ist  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  88.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  47,  53d  Cong.,  ist  sess. 

Dispensing  with  the  present  form  of  engrossing  and  enrolling  bills 
and  joint  resolutions  and  directing  the  use  of  printed  copies  of  the 
same.  October  26,  1893.  2  p.  (53d  Cong.,  ist  sess.  House.  Rept. 
No.  145.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  58,  53d  Cong.,  ist  sess. 

Contracts  for  fuel  and  other  supplies  for  the  departments.    October 
'    30,  1893.     Report  [to  accompany  H.  R.  4292]  2  p.     (53d  Cong.,  1st 
sess.    House.    Rept.  No.  152.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  61,  53d  Cong.,  ist  sess. 

Deposits  of  postmasters.  December  12,  1893.  Report  [to  accom- 
pany H.  R.  4340]  i  p.  (53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  208.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  116,  530!  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

Methods  of  accounting  in  the  Post  Office  department,  etc.  Decem- 
ber 13,  1893.  Report  [to  accompany  H.  R.  4610].  18  p.  2  forms. 
(53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  Flouse.  Rept.  No.  210.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  93,  53d  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

Accounts  of  the  Treasurer.  February  3,  1894.  Report  [to  accom- 
pany H.  R.  5529].  2  p.  (53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  Flouse.  Rept.  No. 

3490 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  200,  53d  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

Making  of  property  returns  by  officers  of  the  government.  Febru- 
ary 4,  1894.  Report  [to  accompany  H.  R.  5530].  6  p.  (53d  Cong., 
2d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  392.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  201,  S3d  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

Methods  of  accounting  in  the  Treasury.  March  6,  1894.  Report 
to  accompany  H.  R.  5750].  6  p.  (53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Rept. 
Jo.  409.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  240,  53d  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

71 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Methods  of  accounting  in  the  Treasury.  March  29,  1894.  Report 
to  accompany  H.  R.  6478].  35  p.  (53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Rept. 

•  637-) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  293,  53d  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

Methods  of  accounting  in  the  Treasury.  May  I,  1894.  Report  [to 
accompany  H.  R.  6948].  i  p.  (53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Rept. 
No.  822.) 

This  was  not  issued  as  a  Senate  report. 

Proposed  change  in  form  of  Treasury  warrants.  May  26,  1894. 
Report.  3  p.  (53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  970.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  447,  53d  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

Disposition  of  old  money  orders.  May  26,  1894.  Report.  2  p. 
(53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  971.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  448,  53d  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

International,  money  order  statistics.  May  26,  1894.  Report.  3  p. 
(53d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  972.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  449,  53d  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

Contested  land  cases.  January  15,  1895.  Report  [to  accompany 
H.  R.  8491],  7  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  1584.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  769,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Engrossing  and  recording  of  land  patents.  January  23,  1895.  RC" 
port  [to  accompany  H.  R.  8490].  12  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House. 
Rept.  No.  1652.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  808,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Purchases  of  coal  and  wood.  January  31,  1895.  Report  [to  ac- 
company H.  R.  8716].  6  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No. 

1736.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  865,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Repeal  of  section  194.  Revised  statutes  of  the  United  States. 
[Annual  reports  of  government  employees.]  February  4,  1895.  RC" 
port  [to  accompany  H.  R.  8754].  2  p.  53d  Cong.,  30!  sess.  House. 
Rept.  No.  1759.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  875,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Section  229  of  the  Revised  statutes  of  the  United  States.  Reports 
of  purchases  of  military  supplies.  February  15,  1895.  Report  [to 
accompany  H.  R.  8879].  5  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House.  Rept. 
No.  1839.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  932,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Condition  of  business  in  the  departments  of  the  government  at 
Washington.  February  18,  1895.  Report.  41  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d 
sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  1851.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  952,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Registers  and  receivers  of  land  offices.  February  22,  1895.  Re- 
port. 6  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  1908.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  1023,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

To  abolish  office  of  Solicitor  of  internal  revenue.  February  22, 
1895.  Report  [to  accompany  H.  R.  8939].  3  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 
House.  Rept.  No.  1909.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  1024,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Bonds  of  officers  of  the  United  States.  February  22,  1895.  Re- 
port [to  accompany  H.  R.  8704].  12  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House. 
Rept.  No.  1910.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  1022,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

72 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

To  improve  the  public  surveys.  February  28,  1895.  Report  [to 
accompany  H.  R.  8504].  29  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House.  Rept. 

No.  I954-) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  1021,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Checking  money  orders.  March  2,  1895.  Report.  4  p.  (53d  Cong., 
3d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  1973.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.,  No.  1035,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Reorganization  of  Supervising  architect's  office.  March  2,  1895. 
Report.  10  p.  (530!  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  1974.) 

This  was  not  issued  as  a  Senate  report. 

Collecting  customs  and  rendering  accounts  therefor.  March  2, 
1895.  Report.  37  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  1975.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  1033,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

Preserving  copies  of  letters  written  in  the  departments.  March 
2,  1895.  Report.  3  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House.  Rept.  No.  1976.) 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Rept.  No.  1034,  53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 

A  review  of  the  work  done  by  the  Joint  commission — reorganisa- 
tion of  the  accounting  system  and  business  methods  in  the  executive 
departments.  March  2,  1895.  Report.  30  p.  (53d  Cong.,  3d  sess. 
House.  Rept.  No.  2000.) 

This  was  not  issued  as  a  Senate  Report. 

The  above  House  Reports  are  bound  together  in  'The  Reports 
of  Committees  of  the  House  of  Representatives  for  the  First  Session 
of  the  Fifty-third  Congress,  1893,"  volume  2,  1895.  Serial  No.  3158. 

The  above  Senate  Reports  are  bound  together  in  "The  Reports  of 
Committees  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  for  the  First  Session 
of  the  Fifty-third  Congress,  1893,"  volume  2,  1895.  Serial  No.  3148. 


73 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


Committee  on  Department  Methods  (Keep  Committee) 
1905-1909.  On  June  2,  1905,  President  Roosevelt,  upon  his 
own  initiative  and  without  congressional  direction,  appointed 
the  following  committee  "to  investigate  the  business  methods 
and  practice  of  the  Executive  Departments  and  to  report  plans 
for  their  improvement :"  C.  H.  Keep,  Assistant  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury;  Lawrence  O.  Murray,  Assistant  Secretary  of 
Commerce  and  Labor ;  James  Rudolph  Garfield,  Commissioner 
of  Corporations,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and 
Cifford  Pinchot,  Chief  of  the  Forest  Service,  Department  of 
Agriculture.  Frank  H.  liitchcock,  First  Assistant  Postmaster 
General,  was  originally  appointed  but  his  name  appears  only 
on  the  first  two  reports. 

Soon  after  its  appointment  the  committee  brought  about 
the  organization  of  assistant  committees  to  take  up  certain 
lines  of  its  work  for  special  detail  investigation.  Through 
the  activities  of  these  various  assistant  committees  and  the 
cooperation  of  the  department,  bureau  and  division  chiefs  in 
the  government  service,  much  valuable  information  was 
gathered,  and  some  important  recommendations  were  made. 
There  being  no  funds  available  for  the  employment  of  experts 
or  for  other  services,  the  work  of  the  committee  was  done 
most  entirely  by  employees  of  the  government  service.  On 
June  30,  1906  (34  Stat.,  635),  a  small  appropriation  of  $5,000 
was  made,  instead  of  $25,000  as  requested  by  the  President, 
"for  salaries  or  compensation  of  persons  not  otherwise  em- 
ployed by  the  United  States,  and  needed  in  the  service  of  the 
Committee  on  Department  Methods." 

The  investigations  of  the  committee  covered  a  large 
variety  of  subjects,  and  while  eighteen  reports  on  as  many 
different  topics  were  made  to  the  President  a  very  considerable 
part  of  the  committee's  work  never  reached  publicity.  Brief 
accounts  of  the  published  reports  follow  in  chronological 
order. 

Purchase  of  Typesetting  Machines.     The  first  report  of 

74 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

the  committee,  made  on  August  4,  1905,  was  the  result  of  an 
investigation  of  certain  charges  made  against  the  Public 
Printer  by  one  manufacturer  on  account  of  a  contract  made 
with  a  rival  concern.  The  report  was  based  upon  evidence 
presented  at  hearings  and  personal  investigations  made  by 
the  committee. 

Public  Printing.  On  September  30,  1905,  a  statement  on 
the  cost  of  public  printing  and  binding  was  made  to  the  Presi- 
dent by  the  Acting  Public  Printer,  which  statement  was  re- 
ferred to  the  committee  with  the  query,  "How  much  too  much 
is  printed?"  The  committee  in  its  report  made  on  January  2, 
1906,  found  upon  investigation  that  there  was  (i)  excessive 
cost  in  executing  work  at  the  Government  Printing  Office; 
(2)  unnecessary  size  and  variety  of  documents  originating  in 
the  departments  and  the  printing  of  unimportant  departmental 
documents;  (3)  excessive  editions  of  documents  originating 
in  the  departments,  and  waste  by  duplicate  distribution;  (4) 
unnecessary  printing  originating  in  and  done  for  Congress. 

Government  Crop  Reports.  This  report  issued  January 
30,  1906,  was  the  result  of  a  resolution  of  the  New  England 
Cotton  Manufacturers'  Association  requesting  the  President 
to  appoint  a  commission  to  investigate  the  best  methods  of 
issuing  government  crop  reports.  In  this  report  the  committee 
recommended  changes  in  the  methods  of  making  estimates, 
avoidance  of  duplicate  estimates  of  crop  acreage  and  yield  by*, 
the  Census  Bureau  and  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  greater  co- 
operation with  the  Weather  Bureau  and  a  change  in  the  title 
of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics.  This  report  was  also  published 
as  Senate  Document  No.  464,  59th  Congress,  ist  Session. 

Interdepartmental  Telephone  Service.  The  committee,* 
through  a  subcommittee,  made  a  study  of  the  telephone  service, 
and  as  a  result  obtained  an  agreement  whereby  a  saving  of 
$1,500  a  year  on  the  cost  of  rented  wires  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  was  effected.  In  its  report  of  March  19,  1906,  it 
also  recommended  that  most  of  the  private  branch  exchanges 
be  mutually  connected  by  a  system  of  tie  lines  consisting  of 
wires  rented  from  the  telephone  company.  By  this  means  the 
committee  expected  that  a  considerable  saving  could  be  effected 
and  much  better  service  obtained.  An  estimate  of  an  appro- 
priation for  an  improved  telephone  service  between  executive 

75 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

departments  appears  in  H.  R.  Document  No.  390,  59th  Con- 
gress, 2d  Session. 

Investigation  of  the  Twelfth  Census  Report  on  Agriculture. 
As  a  result  of  the  difference  in  estimates  of  the  Bureau  of  Sta- 
tistics and  the  Census  Bureau  for  the  year  1899,  disclosed  in 
the  committee's  report  of  January  6,  1906,  the  committee  was 
instructed  by  the  President  to  investigate  the  accuracy  of  the 
census  statistics  of  agriculture.  In  its  report  of  May  i,  1906, 
the  committee  stated  that  in  its  opinion  "the  agricultural  re- 
turns of  the  Twelfth  Census  are  substantially  accurate,  that 
they  are  more  accurate  than  the  agricultural  returns  of  any 
previous  Census,  and  that  they  did  at  the  time  they  were 
published  furnish  an  accurate  basis  upon  which  the  estimates 
of  the  Division  of  Statistics  could  be  based  and  could  be 
judged."  This  report  was  also  published  as  a  part  of  Senate 
Document  No.  464,  mentioned  above. 

Methods  of  Rendering  and  Stating  Accounts.  A  subcom- 
mittee of  the  Committee  on  Department  Methods,  selected  to 
consider  questions  of  bookkeeping  and  accounting,  undertook 
an  investigation  of  the  methods  followed  by  disbursing  and 
collecting  officers  of  the  United  States  in  rendering  and  stat- 
ing for  the  various  auditors  their  accounts  current  with  the 
government.  There  was  want  of  uniformity  in  the  practice 
of  disbursing  officers,  two  systems — the  "Separate"  and  the 
"Consolidated"  being  in  use,  and  the  effort  of  the  subcommit- 
tee was  to  determine  which  was  the  better  of  the  two  methods 
in  use  and  to  bring  about  the  uniform  use  of  the  superior 
system.  After  investigation,  including  hearings,  the  subcom- 
mittee recommended  that  "all  accounts  of  disbursing  and 
collecting  agents  of  the  government  be  stated  in  consolidated 
form,  to  be  prescribed  by  the  Comptroller  under  the  direction 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  except  such  accounts  as  may 
be  shown  to  the  satisfaction  of  such  officers  to  be  impracti- 
cable of  consolidation."  This  recommendation  met  with  the 
approval  of  the  committee  and  the  officers  concerned,  and  on 
May  24,  1906,  the  Comptroller  issued  a  circular  putting  it  into 
effect.  The  committee's  report  of  June  8,  1906,  on  this  subject 
is  a  detailed  statement  of  the  above  facts. 

Purchase  of  Department  Supplies.  This  subject  was 
studied  by  a  subcommittee,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  Direc- 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

tor  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards.  It  had  already  received  much 
attention  from  the  Dockery  Commission  in  1893,  resulting  at 
that  time  in  an  amendment  to  Section  3709,  Revised  Statutes, 
providing  that  contracts  for  purchase  of  department  supplies 
should  go  before  a  Board  of  Award  composed  of  Assistant 
Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  and  Interior  Departments  and  an 
Assistant  Postmaster  General.  While  that  amendment  accom- 
plished something  in  securing  uniformity  of  price  since  1893, 
it  did  not  accomplish  the  purpose  intended  by  the  Dockery 
Commission.  The  plan  suggested  by  the  subcommittee  pro- 
posed that:  "Provision  be  made  by  which  the  preparation  of 
schedules,  advertising  for  proposals,  and  making  of  contracts 
for  the  purchase  of  Department  supplies,  are  placed  in  the 
hands  of  a  board  to  be  known  as  the  General  Supply  Commit- 
tee." This  committee,  which  was  to  replace  the  existing  Board 
of  Award,  was  to  be  composed  of  one  expert  employee  from 
each  department  to  be  designated  by  the  head  thereof.  This 
committee  was  to  prepare  annually  a  schedule  of  miscellaneous 
supplies  in  use  in  the  government  service,  prepare  the  necessary 
advertisements,  open  all  bids  submitted  pursuant  to  such  ad- 
vertisement, and  recommend  awards  to  the  secretary  author- 
ized to  make  the  contracts.  The  Committee  on  Department 
Methods  in  its  report  of  December  6,  1906,  and  the  President 
in  a  subsequent  message  to  Congress,  recommended  the  amend- 
ment of  Section  3709  in  accordance  with  this  suggestion.  No^. 
action  was  then  taken  by  Congress,  but  on  June  17,  1910,  an 
act  was  approved  creating  a  General  Supply  Committee  in  the 
Treasury  Department  which  has  probably  accomplished  the 
same  object.  This  report  was  also  published  as  Senate  Docu- 
ment No.  106,  59th  Congress,  2d. Session. 

The  Use  of  Committees  in  Department  Work.  A  report, 
dated  December  6,  1906,  recommends  the  establishment  of  de- 
partment committees,  points  out  their  value  to  heads  of  de- 
partments and  bureaus  and  to  subordinates,  how  and  for  what 
purposes  they  should  be  created,  and  some  of  the  dangers  to 
be  avoided  in  their  creation. 

Transportation  of  Government  Employees  and  Property. 
A  comprehensive  report  was  made  by  the  assistant  committees 
on  accounting  and  supplies  through  a  special  joint  committee, 
which  the  Committee  on  Department  Methods  presented  with 

77 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

its  recommendations  in  its  report  to  the  President  dated  De- 
cember 6,  1906.  This  report  deals  with  the  "failure  to  follow 
the  best  usages"  and  the  "lack  of  uniformity  in  handling  ship- 
ments and  settling  transportation  accounts"  in  the  government 
service.  Among  the  recommendations  made  by  the  committee 
are :  ( i )  That  "all  single  shipments  of  freight  and  continuous 
journeys  of  Government  employees  be  made  on  through  bills 
of  lading  or  transportation  requests;  (2)  that  standard  forms 
of  bills  of  lading  (following  commercial  practices)  and  trans- 
portation vouchers  be  prepared  and  prescribed;  (3)  that  a 
manual  of  instructions  for  Government  transportation  be  com- 
piled by  a  special  committee,  and  that  after  approval  by  the 
President  it  be  followed  by  all  Departments  and  services;  (4) 
that  clerks  in  the  offices  of  the  various  auditors  now  engaged 
in  the  examination  of  transportation  accounts  be  assembled 
in  one  place  and  that  they  be  there  provided  with,  for  their 
use,  a  complete  common  file  of  tariffs,  schedules  and  division 
sheets;  (5)  that  the  officers  of  the  Quartermaster's  Depart- 
ment be  instructed,  when  requested,  to  advise  disbursing  offi- 
cers and  other  officers  O'f  the  government,  to  the  extent  of 
their  facilities,  upon  questions  of  classification,  rates  and 
division  of  rates." 

Annual  Leave,  Sick  Leave  and  Hours  of  Labor.  A  report 
submitted  December  24,  1906,  gives  a  history  of  the  law  and 
practice  of  the  government  departments  with  regard  to  leaves 
of  absence  and  hours  of  labor,  calls  attention  to  lack  of  uni- 
formity in  the  methods  of  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  law 
concerning  leaves  of  absence,  and  presents  a  set  of  proposed 
regulations  to  govern  all  departments  and  independent  bureaus 
and  offices  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Costkeeping  in  the  Government  Service.  A  study  was 
made  of  costkeeping  in  the  government  service  by  a  subcom- 
mittee, and  its  findings  were  embodied  in  a  report  dealing  with 
the  theory  of  costkeeping,  in  the  form  of  a  "Primer  on  Cost- 
keeping  in  Government  Work,"  and  with  conditions  in  certain 
important  branches  of  the  service. 

Classification  of  Positions  and  Gradation  of  Salaries. 
The  committee  with  the  assistance  of  a  subcommittee  worked 
out  an  elaborate  schedule  of  classification  of  positions  and 
gradation  of  salaries  for  employees  of  the  government  in 

78 


AGtENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Was  hington  with  recommendations  for  its  adoption.  The 
main  features  of  this  schedule  are  (i)  to  fix  the  lower  salaries 
suffi<  :iently  high  to  attract  competent  persons  to  the  service, 
and  the  higher  salaries  sufficiently  high  to  retain  the  best 
expe.rt  service;  (2)  to  grade  salaries  sufficiently  to  assure  f re- 
quo  at  promotion  as  a  stimulus  to  the  best  efforts;  (3)  to  grade 
and  equalize  salaries  according  to  the  character  and  the  re- 
sponsibility  of  the  work  performed.  The  President  sent  two 
me  usages  to  Congress  giving  estimates  for  salaries  in  accor- 
dance with  this  schedule,  prepared  by  a  special  committee  (H. 
R.  Doc.  No.  648,  6oth  Cong.,  1st  Sess.,  and  S.  Doc.  No.  638, 
6o|ih  Cong.,  2d  Sess.),  and  a  bill  was  introduced  providing 
f o  r  its  adoption,  but  no  legislation  resulted. 

Official  Bonds.  An  investigation  made  by  an  assistant 
coimmittee  on  accounting,  the  results  of  which  were  submitted 
in  a  report  of  the  committee  dated  January  7,  1907,  disclosed 
a  ?reat  variety  in  the  form  of  official  bonds,  that  is,  a  diversity 
"j)i  the  statement  of  conditions,  in  the  order  in  which  the  sev- 
jeral  parts  of  the  bond  are  printed,  in  the  substance,  character 
and  relation  of  the  instructions  for  execution  to  other  parts 
of  the  bond,  and  in  the  fact  that  in  some  bonds  the  laws 
ujnder  which  they  are  executed  are  set  out,  while  in  others  no 
siich  information  is  given."  The  committee  recommended 
tpat  the  various  kinds  of  official  bonds  be  classified  and  a 
standard  form  adopted  for  each  class,  these  standard  forms 
to  be  prepared  in  the  office  of  the  Comptroller  of  the  Treas- 
ury after  consultation  with  the  solicitors  of  the  various  ex- 
ecutive departments  and  the  disbursing  and  collecting  officers 
affected.  Recommendations  are  also  made  concerning  cumu- 
lative bonds  and  the  custody  of  bonds. 

Assembling  of  Disbursing  Officers'  Checks  and  Vouchers, 
etc.  Another  report  of  the  accounting  committee  transmitted 
by  the  Committee  on  Department  Methods,  January  9,  1907, 
makes  recommendations  intended  to  remedy  several  of  the 
more  serious  defects  in  the  existing  system  of  accounting.  The 
assistant  committee  took  up  three  subjects  relating  to  accounts 
of  disbursing  officers  for  consideration,  namely:  (i)  the  as- 
sembling of  disbursing  officers'  paid  checks  with  their  vouchers 
in  the  auditors'  offices;  (2)  the  "draft  voucher"  or  "check 
voucher";  (3)  the  taking  of  vouchers  in  duplicate  by  disburs- 

79 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ing  officers.  After  pointing  out  the  defects  in  the  pn  tsent 
system,  the  assistant  committee  suggests  a  plan  which  it  con- 
siders suited  to  government  needs. 

Treasury  Bookkeeping.  A  special  committee  of  the  as  sist- 
ant  committee  on  accounting  made  a  study  of  the  exis  '.ing 
system  of  Treasury  bookkeeping.  In  a  report  embodying  •  its 
conclusions,  dated  January  19,  1907,  the  Committee  on  De- 
partment Methods  points  out  the  incompleteness  of  the  ex  ist- 
ing  system  which  is  a  consolidation  of  a  number  of  syste  ms 
assembled  upon  the  passage  of  the  Dockery  Act  (28  Stat, 
205),  and  suggests  in  lieu  thereof  a  comprehensive  system 
of  double-entry  bookkeeping  which  is  outlined.  This  propos  ed 
system  was  submitted  to  and  approved  by  a  committee  of  cer- 
tified accountants  appointed  by  the  American  Association  of 
Public  Accountants.  The  adoption  of  the  proposed  system 
required  no  new  legislation. 

Government  Contracts.  The  committee  in  a  report,  dat<  d 
April  30,  1907,  calls  attention  to  the  defects  in  the  forms  ct 
many  government  contracts,  the  onerous  and  unreasonable 
conditions  sometimes  unnecessarily  imposed  upon  contractors, 
the  waste  involved  in  preparing  too  many  copies,  and  the  diver- 
sity of  practice  in  the  examination  bonds  and  in  the  require- 
ment of  bonds  from  contractors.  The  committee  recom- 
mended the  appointment  of  a  special  committee  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  study  the  subject  of  government  contracts  and  "to 
prepare  and  prescribe,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  legal 
officer  of  each  Department,  such  forms  for  contracts  as  may 
be  deemed  necessary  for  such  Department,  bureau,  or  office." 

Superannuation  of  Civil  Service  Employees.  In  a  report 
dated  February  18,  1908,  the  committee  presented  a  bill  for  the 
retirement  of  employees  in  the  classified  service  of  the  gov- 
ernment. This  proposed  plan,  the  central  idea  of  which 
originated  with  Herbert  D.  Brown,  provided  for  an  annuity 
(or  an  equivalent  cash  sum)  to  be  paid  each  employee  upon 
his  reaching  the  age  of  70  years,  equal  to  1.5  per  cent  of  his 
pay  for  every  year  of  service.  The  funds  necessary  for  the 
payment  of  the  annuity,  according  to  this  plan,  were  to  be 
furnished  by  the  employees  without  expense  to  the  government 
other  than  the  payment  of  allowances  to  those  employees  now 
in  the  service  whose  contributions  would  not  be  sufficient  to 

80 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

provide  for  their  own  retirement,  each  employee  to  contribute 
the  amount  necessary  to  create  his  own  annuity  without  regard 
to  payments  of  others.  Statistics  are  given  in  the  report  illus- 
trating the  working  of  the  proposed  plan  and  indicating  the 
probable  expense  to  the  government  on  account  of  those 
already  in  the  service.  This  report  was  also  published  as 
Senate  Document  No.  308,  6oth  Congress,  1st  Session. 

Documentary  Historical  Publications  of  the  United  States 
Government.  On  January  n,  1909,  the  Committee  on  De- 
partment Methods  presented  the  results  of  an  inquiry  made 
by  an  assistant  committee  of  experts,  selected  mostly  from 
the  faculties  of  leading  universities,  to  study  the  method  of 
dealing  with  the  problem  of  documentary  historical  publi- 
cations of  the  United  States  government.  The  report  of  this 
assistant  committee  reviews  the  course  hitherto  pursued  by 
the  government  in  the  matter  of  historical  publications,  in- 
dicating the  cost  and  criticising  the  want  of  method ;  gives  a 
general  survey  of  the  field  of  United  States  history,  showing 
what  has  been  done  to  cover  it  by  government  documentary 
publications,  what  gaps  exist  in  the  record  needed  to  be  filled  in 
by  government  action,  and  general  considerations  as  to  the 
proper  policy  to  be  pursued  by  the  government  with  respect 
to  historical  publications;  reviews  the  systems  pursued  by 
other  governments ;  and  makes  suggestions  and  presents  a  draft 
of  a  bill  for  a  permanent  commission  on  national  historical 
publications.  This  report  was  also  published  as  Senate  Docu- 
ment 714,  6oth  Congress,  2d  Session,  dated  February  n,  1909. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that,  with  the  exceptions  named, 
these  reports  of  the  Keep  Commission  were  never  published 
as  public  documents.  The  result  is  that  they  are  exceedingly 
difficult  to  obtain.  The  set  possessed  by  the  Institute  for 
Government  Research  is,  in  fact,  the  only  complete  set  of 
which  the  author  of  the  present  volume  has  knowledge. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Purchase  of  typesetting  machines  for  the  government  printing  office. 

August  4,  1905.    26  p. 
Public  printing.    January  2,  1906.    12  p. 
Government  crop  reports.     [Report  on  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of 

statistics  of  the  Department  of  agriculture.]     January  6,   1906. 

63  P- 

Issued  also  in  Senate  Doc.  464,  59th  Cong.,  ist  sess. 

^ 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Interdepartmental  telephone  service.     March  19,  1906.     6  p. 
Investigation  of  the  Twelfth  census  report  on  agriculture.     May  I, 
1906.    8  p. 

Issued  also  in  Senate  Doc.  464,  59th  Cong.,  ist  sess. 
Method  of  rendering  and  stating  accounts.     [Methods  followed  by  dis- 
bursing and  collecting  officers  of  the  United  States  in  rendering 
and  stating  for  the  various  auditors  their  accounts  current  with 
the  government.]     June  8,  1906.    3  p. 

"Method  of  rendering  and  stating  accounts.     Treasury  depart- 
ment.    Circular    No.    46,"    p.    7-9. 
Purchase  of  department  supplies.    December  6,  1906.     17  p. 

Issued  also  as  Senate  Doc.  106,  59th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  Serial  No. 
5070. 

Contents  Report  on  the  standardization  and  method  of  purchase  of 
department  supplies. 

Proposed  amendment  to  section  3709,  Revised  Statutes. 
Report  of  subcommittee. 
Contracts   for   fuel   and   other   supplies   for  the   Departments. 

[Report  of  the  Dockery  commission,  Oct.  30,  1893.] 
Opinion  of  the  Attorney-General. 

The  use  of  Committees  in  department  work.    December  6,  1906.    7  p. 
Transportation  of  government  employees  and  property.    December  6, 

1906.    12  p. 
Annual  leave,  sick  leave,  and  hours  of  labor.     December  24,   1906. 

10  p. 

Costkeeping  in  the  government  service.     December  29,  1906.     22  p. 
"Primer  on  costkeeping  in  government  work,"  prepared  by  Nor- 
man E.  Webster,  Jr.  [and  others],  p.  9-22. 

Classification  of  positions  and  gradation  of  salaries  for  employees  of 
the   Executive   departments   and   independent    establishments   in 
Washington.    January  4,  1907.    16  p. 
Official  bonds.     January  7,  1907.     up. 

"Appendix"  [containing  a  copy  of  the  proposed  amendment  to  the 

law  and  the  Attorney-General's  opinion  on  the  same],  p.  8-n. 

Assembling  disbursing  officers'  checks  and  vouchers  and  verification  of 

disbursing  officers'  balances.     January  9,  1907.     16  p. 
Treasury  bookkeeping.    January  19,  1907.     10  p. 

"Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  American  association  of  public 

accountants  on  Treasury  bookkeeping,"  p.  10. 
Government  contracts.     ApriJ  30,  1907.     7  p. 

Superannuation   of   civil-service   employees   of  the   government    [to- 
gether with  draft  of  a  proposed  bill  providing  for  the  payment 
of  annuities  to  employees  upon  retirement].     February  18,  1908. 
Issue.d  also  as  Senate  Doc.  No.  308,  6oth  Cong.,  ist  sess.     Serial 

No.  5265. 

Documentary  historical  publications  of  the  United  States  government. 
January  n,  1909.    41  p. 
Contents. 

Review  of  the  course  hitherto  pursued  by  the  government  in  the 

matter  of  historical  publications. 

General  survey  of  the  field  of  United  States  history  showing 
what  has  been  done  to  cover  it  by  government  documentary 
publications. 

82 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Recapitulation  of  the  recommendations  made  in  the  course  of 

this  survey. 
General  considerations  as  to  the  proper  policy  to  be  pursued 

by  the  government  in  respect  to  historical  publications. 
Statement  of  the  system  pursued  by  other  governments. 
Suggestions  for  a  permanent  commission  on  national  historical 

publications. 
Draft  of  a  bill  to  create  a  permanent  commission  on  national 

historical  publications. 

Same,  with  title :     Report  on  documentary  historical  publica- 
tions of  United  States  government,  with  draft  of  bill  providing 
for  creation  of  permanent  commission  on  national  historical  pub- 
lications.   February  n,  1909.    45  p.     (6oth  Cong.,  2d  sess.    Sen- 
ate Doc.  714.    Serial  No.  5408.) 

PUBLICATIONS   OF  THE  GRADES   AND   SALARIES    COMMITTEE  OF  THE 
COMMITTEE   ON   DEPARTMENT   METHODS 

Executive  order  (authorizing  formation  of  Grades  and  salaries  com- 
mittee, personnel  of  same,  with  extracts  from  report  of  Depart- 
ment methods  committee  on  classification  of  positions  and  grada- 
tion of  salaries  for  employees  of  executive  departments  and  in- 
dependent establishments  in  Washington.)  1907.  4  p. 

Estimates  for  salaries  in  executive  departments  and  establishments. 
(1909,  in  conformity  with  schedules  and  recommendations  of 
Committee  on  department  methods  of  January  4,  1907.)  1908. 
123  p. 

Same    [with   estimates   for   salaries   for   arsenals   and   navy- 
yards].    February  n,  1908.    175  p.     (6oth  Cong.,  ist  sess.    House 
Doc.  648.    Serial  No.  5370.) 

Estimates  for  salaries  in  executive  departments  and  [independent] 
establishments,  1910.  January  6,  1909.  126  p.  (6oth  Cong.,  2d 
sess.  Senate  Doc.  638.  Serial  No.  5395.) 

HEARING   BEFORE   CONGRESSIONAL   COMMITTEE 

Proposed  reclassification  of  clerical  force  in  the  executive  depart- 
ments. Supplement  to  hearings  before  subcommittee  of  House 
Committee  on  appropriations  in  charge  of  deficiency  appropria- 
tions for  1907  and  prior  years  on  General  deficiency  bill.  State- 
ment of  Hon.  Charles  H.  Keep,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
department  methods.  January  15,  1907.  9  p. 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


President's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency,  1910- 
1913.  Much  the  most  comprehensive  and  systematic  investi- 
gation that  has  ever  been  made  of  the  administrative  branch 
of  the  national  government,  if  not,  indeed,  of  any  government, 
was  that  made  by  a  special  commission  known  as  the  "Presi- 
dent's Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency."  Though  the 
prosecution  of  this  inquiry  was  authorized  by  Congress,  such 
authorization  was  made  at  the  direct  request  of  President 
Taft.  In  response  to  his  request,  Congress  inserted  in  the 
sundry  civil  appropriation  act  for  1911,  approved  June  25, 
1910,  the  following  clause : 

To  enable  the  President,  by  the  employment  of  accountants 
and  experts  from  official  and  private  life,  to  more  effectively 
inquire  into  the  methods  of  transacting  the  public  business  of 
the  government  in  the  several  executive  departments  and  other 
government  establishments,  with  the  view  of  inaugurating  new 
or  changing  old  methods  of  transacting  such  public  business 
so  as  to  attain  greater  efficiency  and  economy  therein,  and  to 
ascertain  and  recommend  to  Congress  what  changes  in  law 
may  be  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  such  results  of  his  inquiry 
as  cannot  be  carried  into  effect  by  executive  action  alone,  and 
for  each  and  every  purpose  necessary  hereunder,  including  the 
employment  of  personal  services  at  Washington,  District  of 
Columbia,  or  elsewhere,  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  appropriation  of  $100,000  here  made  for  the  conduct 
of  this  inquiry  was  supplemented  by  one  for  $75,000  contained 
in  the  sundry  civil  appropriation  act  for  1912,  approved  March 
4,  1911,  one  for  $10,000  to  meet  the  expenses  of  a  special 
investigation  of  the  Patent  Office  which  Congress,  by  joint 
resolution  of  August  21,  1912,  directed  the  President  to  have 
made,  and  one  for  $75,000  contained  in  the  sundry  civil  ap- 
propriation act  for  1913,  approved  August  24,  1912.  The 
total  appropriation  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  inquiry 
was  thus  $260,000,  and  its  life  extended  over  the  three  fiscal 
years,  July  i,  1910,  to  June  30,  1913. 

84 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

It  will  be  noted  that,  though  Congress  authorized  the  in- 
vestigation and  appropriated  money  for  its  support,  full  dis- 
cretion was  left  to  the  President  to  determine  the  character 
of  organization  that  should  be  created  for  its  prosecution  and 
the  methods  that  should  be  employed.  As  a  first  step  the 
President  placed  his  secretary,  Mr.  Charles  D.  Norton,  in  full 
charge  of  the  work.  The  latter  called  upon  Dr.  F.  A.  Cleve- 
land, then  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  of 
the  City  of  New  York,  to  assist  him  in  the  organization  and 
conduct  of  the  work.  Active  work  began  on  September  27. 
JQip.  when  Dr.  CieYfland^epQrted"  Tor'  duty. 

The  next  step  consisted  in  the  President's  requesting  the 
head  of  each  department  and  certain  independent  establish- 
ments to  appoint  from  among  the  officers  of  his  department 
or  establishment  a  "committee  on  economy  and  efficiency," 
which  should  have  as  its  duty  the  making  of  inquiries  into  the 
organization  and  methods  of  business  of  the  department  or 
establishment,  and  of  formulating  proposals  looking  to  the 
improvement  of  existing  conditions.  Such  committees  were 
duly  appointed  and  began  work. 

In  the  meantime  steps  were  taken  looking  to  the  building 
up  of  a  central  organization  to  have  general  charge  of  the 
inquiry.  This  was  done  by  the  creation  of  what  was  known 
as  "The  President's  Inquiry  in  re  Economy  and  Efficiency," 
with  Dr.  Cleveland  as  its  directing  head.  The  latter,  as  a 
preliminary  step,  caused  to  be  sent  out,  with  the  approval  of 
Mr.  Norton  and  the  President,  a  circular  letter  addressed  to 
the  heads  of  all  departments  and  establishments  calling  for 
detailed  information  regarding  their  organization,,  personnel, 
legal  status  and  powers  and  many  features  of  their  adminis- 
tration. Numerous  conferences  were  also  held  with  the  de- 
partmental committees  on  economy  and  efficiency. 

It  soon  became  evident,  however,  that  if  the  work  was 
to  be  efficiently  prosecuted  a  more  formal  central  organization 
had  to  be  established.  In  compliance  with  the  recommenda- 
tion of  Dr.  Cleveland  and  Mr.  Norton,  the  President,  on  March 
8.,  T()TT,  created  a  body  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  "Presi- 
dent's  LmTiTru?]  p  i  ^inTon  Economy  and  Efficiency,"  to  have  full 
e  inquiry.  M.1ie  commission  was  made  to  consis 


of  the  following  five  members  :  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cleveland, 

85 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

chairman;  ]\fr. William F.  Willoughby,  then  Assistant  Direc- 
tor of  the  Census;  Judge  Walter^Wr  Warwick,  Associate  Jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Canal  Zone,  and  formerly 
examiner  of  accounts  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission  and 
auditor  of  the  government  of  the  Canal  Zone;  Mr.  Frank  J. 
A  X\  A  | Goodnow,  P^fesof^o-^^dministra^ive  Law.  CoTumEia . tTni- 
\I\f  versjfcy^and  Mr.  Harvey  S.  Chase,  a  certified  public  accountant 
S  oTBoston,  Mass.     Mr?  MerritFO.  Chance,  then  Auditor  for 
the  Post  Office  Department,  was  made  secretary  and  later  a 
member  of  the  commission. 

Provision  was  also  made  for  two  other  bodies  to  assist  in 
.  the  undertaking — a  Board  of  Referees  and  a  Board  of  Con- 
sulting Experts — both  of  which  were  created  to  act  in  an 
advisory  capacity.  The  Board  of  Referees  was  composed  of 
government  officials  selected  by  the  President,  who  conferred 
upon  it  the  function  of  considering  such  technical  questions 
as  interdepartmental  disputes,  conflicts  of  jurisdiction  and  the 
like  which  might  be  referred  to  it  for  special  consideration  and 
report. 

V      A\     t\  I       The  Board  of  Consulting  Experts  was  composed  of  mem- 
\y  bers  of  accounting  firms  which  had  been  connected  with  pre- 

*  vious  inquiries  into  the  affairs  of  the  government.  The  duty 
imposed  upon  this  board  consisted  of  giving  its  opinion  re- 
garding technical  questions  of  accounting  and  all  business 
practices  and  procedure  that  were  referred  to  it. 

Due  to  unavoidable  delay  in  all  the  members  of  the  com- 
mission reporting  for  work,  and  in  assembling  an  adequate 
technical  and  clerical  staff,  the  commission  as  such  did  not 
begin  active  operatic^  until  about  July,  1911.  It  resulted, 
therefore,  that  the  inquiry  as  a  whole  was  made  under  two 
auspices  and  covered  two  periods,  that  of  the  "President's 
Inquiry  in  re  Economy  and  Efficiency,"  under  the  immediate 
direction  of  Dr.  F.  A.  Cleveland  during  the  first  year,  and 
that  of  the  "President's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Effi- 
ciency" during  the  last  two  years  of  the  three-year  period. 

The  work  done  during  the  first  period  necessarily  consisted 
largely  in  assembling  documents  and  data  regarding  the  or- 
ganization and  operations  of  the  government,  though  a  distinct 
beginning  was  made  in  the  prosecution  of  certain  technical 
studies  such  as  standardization  of  expenditure  documents  and 

86 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

procedure,  the  classification  of  objects  of  expenditure,  classi- 
fication of  estimates  of  appropriation,  and  regulations  gov- 
erning expenditures  for  travel. 

Upon  the  organization  of  the  commission  a  more  formal 
work  program  was  adopted.  In  general  terms  this  program 
comprehended  the  prosecution  of  studies  under  the  follow- 
ing five  heads : 

1.  The  problem  of  a  national  budget 

2.  Problems  of  organization 

3.  Problems  of  personnel 

4.  Problems  of  financial  procedure 

5.  Problems  of  business  practice  and  procedure 
Though  reference  to  the  publications  of  the  coi 

as  given  hereafter  will  indicate  in  terms  of  published  products 
the  work  done  in  each  of  these  fields,  some  description  of  the 
methods  pursued  and  the  objects  sought  will  not  be  out  of 
place. 

The  Problem  of  a  National  Budget.  From  the  start  of 
the  inquiry,  every  effort  was  made  to  develop  information 
showing  the  need  for  the  adoption  by  the  national  govern- 
ment of  a  budget  system  and  the  steps  that  had  to  be  taken  in 
order  to  accomplish  this  reform.  As  has  been  pointed  out,  a 
study  of  the  classification  of  estimates  of  appropriation  had 
been  begun  by  the  President's  Inquiry  in  re  Economy  and 
Efficiency.  This  work  was  continued  by  the  commission, 
which,  in  conference  with  representatives  of  the  departments, 
worked  out  a  reclassification  of  expenditures,  appropriations 
and  estimates  which  would  show  these  data  in  the  form  de- 
sired for  budgetary  purposes.  This  done,  the  departments 
and  other  services  of  the  government  were,  in  July,  1911, 
requested  to  submit  to  the  commission  statements  of  their 
expenditures  for  1911,  appropriations  for  1912,  and  estimates 
for  1913  in  accordance  with  such  classification.  This  classi- 
fication was  devised  with  a  view  to  making  known  expendi- 
tures, appropriations  and  estimates  in  terms  of  organization 
units,  character,  that  is,  capital  outlay,  fixed  charges,  current 
expenses,  etc.,  functions,  objects,  that  is,  things  purchased, 
personal  services,  supplies,  etc.,  and  appropriation  bills. 

On  June  27,  1912,  the  information  thus  secured,  together 
with  other  data  bearing  upon  the  problem  of  a  budget,  was 

87 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

submitted  to  Congress  in  the  form  of  a  report  entitled  "The 
Need  for  a  National  Budget."  This  report,  which  covered 
568  pages,  consisted  of  three  parts  and  appendices.  In  Part  I 
was  given  the  history  and  description  of  existing  practices  of 
the  Executive  and  Congress  in  respect  to  the  preparation  of 
estimates  and  the  enactment  of  appropriation  bills ;  in  Part  II, 
a  discussion  of  the  constructive  recommendations  of  the  com- 
mission; and  in  Part  III,  a  pro  forma  budget  and  supporting 
documents.  The  appendices  gave  a  digest  of  existing  laws 
governing  estimates  and  appropriations,  a  bibliography  of 
congressional  inquiries  into  the  conduct  of  the  business  of  the 
executive  departments,  and  a  statement  of  budget  methods 
and  procedure  in  foreign  countries.  The  report  also  included 
a  letter  of  transmittal  by  the  President  in  which  the  proposal 
that  provision  be  made  for  the  adoption  of  a  budget  system 
was  strongly  indorsed.  In  this  letter  the  President  called  at- 
tention "to  the  fact  that  the  Government  is  without  an  accurate 
statement  of  resources  and  liabilities ;  that  it  is  being  financed 
without  a  prospectus  which  shows  expenditures  in  relation 
to  revenues  or  the  effect  of  past  financial  policy;  that  the  re- 
ports of  expenditures  and  the  estimates  required  by  law  are 
unsystematic,  lack  uniformity  of  classification,  and  are  in- 
capable of  being  summarized  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  to 
the  Congress,  to  the  President,  or  to  the  people  a  picture  of 
what  has  been  done  or  what  is  proposed." 

These  defects  he  pointed  out  could  only  be  adequately  met 
by  the  adoption  of  a  scientifically  worked  out  budget  system. 

This  first  report  was  intended  merely  as  a  means  of  rais- 
ing the  whole  question  of  budgetary  reform.  To  push  the 
matter  still  further,  it  was  decided  to  attempt  to  prepare  an 
actual  budget  for  the  next  fiscal  year  in  conformity  with  the 
principles  that  had  been  developed  by  the  commission.  Such 
a  budget  of  course  would  not  take  the  place  of  the  estimates 
which  had  to  be  submitted  in  compliance  with  legal  require- 
ments in  their  established  forms,  but  would  be  an  alternative 
or  supplemental  method  of  getting  before  Congress  appro- 
priation data. 

On  July  10,  1912,  the  President  accordingly  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  heads  of  the  executive  departments  and  other 
government  establishments  informing  them  that  it  was  his 

88 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

desire  to  send  to  Congress,  at  the  same  time  that  the  Book  of 
Estimates  was  presented  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
a  budget  prepared  along  the  lines  set  forth  in  his  message  to 
Congress  of  June  27,  and  directing  them  to  prepare  two  sets 
of  estimates  and  summaries  of  estimates,  one  in  accordance 
with  the  existing  practice  and  one  substantially  in  accordance 
with  the  forms  contained  in  the  report  of  the  Commission  on 
Economy  and  Efficiency. 

This  proposal  of  the  President  to  submit  estimates  of  ex- 
penditure needs  in  a  form  different  from  that  employed  in 
the  past  was  strongly  resented  by  Congress,  which  saw  in  it 
an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  President  to  increase  his  influence 
in  the  matter  of  making  provision  for  the  financial  needs  of 
the  government.  It  accordingly  sought  to  prevent  it  by  in- 
serting in  one  of  the  appropriation  bills  the  following  section : 

Section  9.  That  until  otherwise  provided  by  law,  the  regu- 
lar annual  estimates  of  appropriations  for  expenses  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  shall  be  prepared  and  sub- 
mitted to  Congress,  by  those  charged  with  the  duty  of  such 
preparation  and  submission,  only  in  the  form  and  at  the  time 
now  required  by  law,  and  in  no  other  form  and  at  no  other 
time. 

The  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Appropriations,  in  a 
speech  defending  this  action,  explained  that  "Congress  knew 
best  the  character  and  extent  of  the  information  it  desired  in 
responding  to  the  demands  of  the  Executive  for  appropriations 
.  .  .  that  it  would  not  be  wise  for  Congress  to  abdicate, 
even  by  implication,  its  prerogative  in  this  matter/'  and -that 
"until  it  could  be  determined  by  careful  and  deliberate  study 
of  the  scheme,  whether  it  should  be  accepted  and  adopted,  it 
was  not  deemed  wise  or  provident  to  have  .  .  .  the 
time  and  energies  of  large  numbers  of  the  most  capable  persons 
in  the  several  branches  of  the  public  service  diverted  to  trans- 
forming the  entire  estimates  for  the  next  fiscal  year  into  this 
new  and  unauthorized  plan  of  a  so-called  national  budget."1 

The  President,  however,  believing  that  Congress  had  no 
power  under  the  Constitution  to  prevent  him  from  obtaining 
from  administrative  officers  such  information  as  he  might 

"Cong.  Rec.  Aug.  27,  1912,  p.  13  and  142. 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

desire,  on  September  19,  1912,  sent  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  and  copies  to  all  the  department  heads,  calling 
attention  to  his  instructions  of  July  10,  and  denning  his  atti- 
tude with  regard  to  the  above-mentioned  Section  9,  as  follows  : 

Under  the  Constitution  the  President  is  intrusted  with  the 
executive  power  and  is  responsible  for  the  acts  of  heads  of 
departments  and  their  subordinates  as  his  agents,  and  can  use 
them  to  assist  him  in  his  constitutional  duties,  one  of  which 
is  to  recommend  measures  to  Congress  and  to  advise  it  as  to 
the  existing  conditions  and  their  betterment.  .  .  . 

If  the  President  is  to  assume  any  responsibility  for  either 
the  manner  in  which  business  of  the  Government  is  trans- 
acted or  results  obtained,  it  is  evident  that  he  cannot  be  limited 
by  Congress  to  such  information  as  that  branch  may  think 
sufficient  for  his  purpose.  In  my  opinion,  it  is  entirely  compe- 
tent for  the  President  to  submit  a  budget,  and  Congress  can- 
not forbid  or  prevent  it.  It  is  quite  within  his  duty  and 
power  to  have  prepared  and  to  submit  to  Congress  and  to  the 
country  a  statement  of  resources,  obligations,  revenues,  expen- 
ditures, and  estimates  in  the  form  he  deems  advisable.  And 
this  power  I  propose  to  exercise. 

He,  therefore,  instructed  the  heads  of  departments  to  print 
and  send  to  Congress  'the  forms  of  estimates  required  by  it 
of  officers,  without  delay ;  also  to  have  sent  to  him  the  infor- 
mation asked  for  in  his  letter  of  July  10,  1912,  the  latter  to  be 
made  the  basis  for  review,  revision,  and  summary  statement 
in  the  form  of  a  budget  with  supporting  documents  which  he 
intended  to  send  to  Congress  by  special  message. 

•These  instructions  were  followed,  and  on  February  26, 
1913,  the  President  sent  to  Congress  a  report  prepared  by 
the  commission  under  the  title  of  "A  Budget  for  the  Fiscal 
Year  1914." 

This  report  consisted  of  four  budget  statements  showing 
financial  condition  and  operating  results,  submitted  as  a  basis 
for  considering  the  present  and  prospective  fiscal  condition; 
eleven  summaries  of  estimates  submitted  as  a  basis  for  con- 
sidering revenues  and  expenditures  in  relation  to  questions  of 
government  policy;  and  a  summary  of  proposed  changes  of 
law,  setting  forth  what  legislation  it  was  thought  should  be 
enacted  in  order  to  enable  the  administration  to  transact  public 

90 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

business  with  greater  economy  and  efficiency.  The  report  con- 
tained, furthermore,  in  the  form  of  appendices,  schedules  sup- 
porting budget  statements;  a  memorandum  on  the  need  for 
the  organization  £f  a  bureaiToFceTitraradministrative  control ; 
reports  containing  recommendations  of  officers  of  the  several 
departments  for  changes  in  law  affecting  the  organization, 
work,  personnel,  and  business  methods  of  the  government,  pre- 
pared in  response  to  special  inquiry  of  the  President;  a  sum- 
mary of  constructive  recommendations  contained  in  the  annual 
reports  of  the  executive  departments  and  other  establishments; 
and  a  list  of  positions  to  which  appointments  are  made  by  the 
President  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 

No  action  was  taken  by  Congress  on  this  report.  The 
effect  of  the  two  reports  of  the  commission  was  thus  limited 
to  that  of  raising  in  a  very  "concrete  form  the  problem  of  a 
national  budget  and  of  laying  the  basis  for  further  consider- 
ation of  this  subject. 

Problems  of  Organisation.  For  years  it  had  been  known 
that  conditions  in  respect  to  the  grouping  of  services  depart- 
mentally  and  the  allotment  of  duties  among  the  services  were 
extremely  unsatisfactory,  that  there  was  much  duplication  of 
organization,  plant  and  work,  and  that  the  loss  resulting  there- 
from reached  large  proportions.  The  commission  accordingly 
undertook  as  one  of  its  distinct  activities  to  make  a  thorough 
study  of  the  organization  and  activities  of  the  government, 
with  a  view  to  the  formulation  of  proposals  by  which  condi- 
tions might  be  improved.  As  an  initial  step  it  caused  to  be 
prepared  a  report  setting  forth  in  detail  the  organization  of 
the  government  as  it  existed  on  July  i,  1911.  This  report, 
which  is  entitled  "Outline  of  Organization  of  the  United 
States  Government,  July  i,  1911,"  was  sent  to  Congress  by 
the  President,  accompanied  by  a  letter  of  transmittal,  January 
17,  1912. 

This  report  is  noteworthy  as  representing  the  first  attempt 
that  had  ever  been  made  to  show  in  full  detail  how  the  govern- 
ment was  organized  for  the  performance  of  its  work.  Of  it 
the  President  in  his  letter  of  transmittal  said: 

From  these  outlines  it  is  possible  to  determine  not  only  how 
each  department,  bureau,  and  operating  unit,  such  as  a 

91 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

navy  yard,  is  organized,  but  also,  by  classifying  these  units  by 
character  and  geographical  location,  the  number  of  units  of 
a  like  character  that  exist  at  Washington,  and  the  number  and 
character  of  services  of  the  government  in  each  city  or  other 
point  in  the  United  States.  With  this  information  available, 
it  is  possible  to  study  any  particular  activity  or  the  problem 
of  maintaining  services  at  any  given  city  or  point. 

Information  of  this  character  has  never  before  been  avail- 
able. Administrative  officials  have  been  called  upon  to  dis- 
charge their  duties  without  that  full  knowledge  of  the 
machinery  under  their  direction  which  is  so  necessary  to  the 
exercise  of  effective  control;  much  less  have  they  had  infor- 
mation regarding  agencies  in  other  services  that  might  be 
made  use  of.  Under  such  circumstances  each  service  is  com- 
pelled to  rely  upon  itself  to  build  up  its  own  organization  and 
to  provide  its  own  facilities  regardless  of  those  in  existence 
elsewhere. 

As  a  next  step  in  the  development  of  the  information 
needed  in  order  to  bring  about  a  better  distribution  and  cor- 
relation of  the  activities  and  organization  units  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  commission  undertook  the  preparation  of  a  series 
of  monographs  descriptive  of  the  history,  activities  and  or- 
ganization of  the  several  services  of  the  government.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  such  monographs  were  completed  and 
published  in  the  reports  of  the  commission  as  will  appear  in 
the  list  of  publications  of  the  commission  appended  to  this 
chapter. 

Thirdly,  on  the  basis  of  the  information  thus  secured  the 
commission  prepared  a  number  of  reports  recommending  the 
abolition  of  certain  services  and  the  consolidation  of  certain 
others.  It  thus  recommended  the  abolition  of  the  Revenue 
Cutter  Service  of  the  Treasury  Department,  and  the  Returns 
Office  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  the  consolidation  of 
the  Bureau  of  Lighthouses  of  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  and  the  Life  Saving  Service  of  the  Treasury  De- 
partment, and  the  consolidation  of  the  six  auditors'  offices  of 
the  Treasury  Department.  A  special  report  was  also  prepared 
recommending  the  establishment  of  an  independent  health 
service,  by  the  transfer  to  that  service  of  the  Public  Health 
and  Marine  Hospital  Service  of  the  Treasury  Department,  the 
divisions  having  to  do  with  the  protection  of  public  health  in 

92 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
the  Division  of  Vital  Statistics  of  the  Bureau  of  the  Census 
in  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and  such  other 
services  as  have  to  do  purely  with  public  health  work. 

These  reports  were  transmitted  to  Congress  by  the  Presi- 
dent with  his  approval,  but  no  action  was  taken  upon  them. 
They  represented  but  a  beginning  of  the  work  to  be  done 
in  this  field,  the  abolition  of  the  commission  through  the  fail-/yj 
ure  of  Congress  to  make  provision  for  its  support  preventing!/  I 
the  work,  however,  from  being  carried  further. 

Problems  of  Personnel.  In  this  field  the  commission  made 
studies  regarding  methods  of  appointment  of  officers  and  em- 
ployees, ^methochj^  records,  and  the  general  f/^\ 
problem  ot  the  establishment,  of  a~proper  system  for  the  re- 
tirement of  superannuated  employees.  The  results  of  these 
studies  were  transmitted  to  Congress  and  published  as  public 
documents. 

Problems  of  Financial  Procedure.  A  very  large  amount 
of  work  was  done  by  the  commission  in  the  way  of  studying 
the  accounting  and  reporting  systems,  not  only  of  the  govern- 
ment as  a  whole,  as  represented  by  the  system  of  Treasury 
accounts,  reports  and  audit,  but  of  the  individual  services. 
These  studies  were  of  two  kinds ;  one,  descriptive,  having  for 
its  purpose  to  make  known  existing  practices,  the  other,  con- 
structive, having  for  its  purpose  to  outline  new  practices  con- 
forming to  modern  principles  of  public  accounting.  Especially 
was  the  effort  made  to  bring  about  a  greater  standardization  in 
expenditure  documents,  and  in  accounting  and  reporting  pro- 
cedure. Not  a  little  work  was  also  done  in  working  out  a 
classification  of  objects  of  expenditures.  This  classification 
was  intended  to  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  detailed  consideration 
of  questions  of  standardization  of  purchases,  the  development 
of  uniform  specifications,  the  establishment  of  uniform  tests 
as  to  quality  of  articles  delivered  and  for  the  uniform  classi- 
fication and  codification  of  data  contained  in  documents  of 
expenditures  which  must  be  used  as  a  basis  for  accounting. 

Only  in  small  part  were  the  results  of  these  studies  pub- 
lished in  reports  transmitted  to  Congress  and  printed  as  public 
documents.  A  considerable  number  of  the  constructive  studies, 
having-  for  their  purpose  to  suggest  improved  methods  for  the 

93 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

handling  of  expenditures  and  the  rendering  of  accounts,  were, 
however,  published  in  the  series  of  circulars  issued  by  the 
commission.  The  titles  of  these  studies  can  be  seen  by  ref- 
erence to  the  list  of  publications  of  the  commission  appended 
to  this  chapter.  The  descriptive  studies,  though  carefully  done, 
were  still  in  manuscript  form  when  the  commission  went  out 
of  existence. 

Not  a  little  work  was  done  in  the  way  of  putting  into  effect 
the  recommendations  of  the  commission  for  the  improvement 
of  accounting  methods.  This  took  the  form  partly  of  the 
issue  by  the  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury  of  circulars  addressed 
to  accounting  officers  of  the  government,  directing  them  to 
make  use  of  the  changed  methods  suggested  by  the  commis- 
sion;1 and  partly  of  the  adoption  by  the  accounting  officers  of 
the  several  services  of  improvements  suggested  to  them  by 
the  commission. 

Problems  of  Business  Practice  and  Procedure.  In  this 
field  especial  attention  was  paid  to  the  subjects  of  the  handling 
and  filing  of  correspondence,  the  methods  employed  in  dis- 
tributing government  documents,  the  use  of  photographic  pro- 
cesses for  the  copying  of  documents,  the  use  of  labor-saving 
devices  and  certain  other  features  of  business  management. 
In  respect  to  the  first,  detailed  investigations  were  made  re- 
garding not  only  the  handling  and  filing  of  correspondence 
but  of  methods  of  business  generally  of  a  number  of  the 
bureaus  of  the  War  Department.  The  results  of  all  these 
studies  were  embodied  in  reports  which  were  transmitted  to 
Congress  and  published  by  that  body  as  public  documents. 
In  a  considerable  number  of  cases  the  recommendations  of  the 
commission  were  acted  upon. 

PUBLICATIONS 

i.    Messages  of  the  President  and  Official  Reports  of  the  Commis- 
sion Submitted  to  Congress  and  Printed  as  Public  Documents. 

i.    Special  message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  on  the 

President's  inquiry  into  economy  and  efficiency.     1911.    6  p. 
Same,  with  title:  Message  asking  appropriation  to  con- 
tinue investigation  of  business  methods  employed  in  Executive 
departments.     March   3,    1911.     4  p.      (6ist   Cong.,   3d    sess. 
Senate.     Doc.  859.     Serial  No.  5943-) 

'Treasury  Circulars,  1911,  Nos.  34  and  35;  1912,  No.  36. 

94 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

2.  Message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  on  economy  and 

efficiency  in  the  government   service.     Communicated  to  the 
two  houses  of  Congress  January  17,  1912.     28  p. 

Same,  January  17,  1912.    2  v.     (62d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House. 

Doc.  458.    Serial  No.  6296-7.) 
Contents : 

Message  of  the  President  .  .  .  January  17,  1912,  p.  1-20. 
Appendix:  Report  to  the  President  on  the  organization  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States  as  it  existed  July  I, 
1911,  shown  by  an  outline  of  organization  with  recommen- 
dation regarding  its  use  in  the  administration  of  public  af- 
fairs. .  .  .  Submitted  by  the  Commission  on  economy  and 
efficiency.  November,  1911,  p.  21-1533. 

3.  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency.    Message  from  the  Pres- 

ident of  the  United  States  transmitting  information  in  response 
to  Senate  resolution  of  January  25,  1912,  giving  the  names  of 
the  members  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  in 
the  Government  service.  February  5,  1912.  2  p.  (62d  Cong., 
2d.  sess.  Senate.  Doc.  No.  294.  Serial  No.  6180.) 

4.  Report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency.     Message 

from  the  President  of  the  United  States  transmitting  reports  of 
the  Commission  .  .  .  relative  to  centralization  of  the  distribu- 
tion of  government  publications,  and  so   forth.     February  5, 
1912.    37  p.  3  fold.  pi.    (62d  Cong.,  2d  sess.    Senate.    Doc.  No. 
293.    Serial  No.  6175.) 
Contents : 
Report  on  the  centralization  of  the  distribution  of  government 

publications. 
Report  on  the  use  of  window  envelopes  in  the  government 

service. 
Report  on  the  use  of  a  photographic  process  for  copying 

printed  and  written  documents,  maps,  drawings,  etc. 
5.    Message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  on  economy  and 
efficiency  in  the  government  service,  communicated  to  the  two 
houses  of  Congress,  April  4,   1912.     12  p. 

Same,  with  title :  Economy  and  efficiency  in  the  govern- 
ment service.  Message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States 
transmitting  reports  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  effi- 
ciency. April  4,  1912.  565  p.  (62d  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House. 
Doc.  670.  Serial  No.  6298.) 
Contents. 

Message  of  the  President,  p.  1-14. 
Methods  of  appointment,  p.  15-42. 

Regulations   governing    appointments   and   promotions    in 

the  Consular  service. 
Extract  from  regulations  governing  the  Public  health  and 

marine-hospital  service. 

y>       Consolidation  of  Bureau  of  lighthouses,  Department  of  com- 
merce and  labor,  and  Life-saving  service,  Department  of 
the  Treasury,  p.  43-265. 
Partial  Contents. 

Report  of  the  Joint  committee  on  the  Life-saving  service 
and  the  Bureau  of  lighthouses,  1911. 

95 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Statement  showing  location  of  life-saving  stations  in  re- 
lation to  nearest  lighthouse. 
History,   organization,   and   activities   of  the   Life-saving 

service. 

History,    organization,   and   activities   of   the    Bureau   of 
Lighthouses. 

Revenue-cutter  service  of  the  Department  of  the  Treasury, 
p.  267-397.  (Contains  bibliography.) 

Accounting  offices  of  the  Treasury,  with   recommendations 
for  the  consolidation  of  the  six  auditors'  offices  into  one 
office,  p.  399-420. 
Partial  Contents. 

History  of  accounting  system  of  Government,  1789  to  1894. 

Law  reorganizing  the  accounting  offices  of  the  Treasury. 

Returns  office  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  p.  421-460. 

Travel  expenditures,  p.  461-514. 

Memorandum  of  conclusions  concerning  the  principles  that 
should  govern  in  the  matter  of  handling  and  filing  corre- 
spondence and  preparing  and  mailing  communications  in 
connection  with  the  work  of  the  several  departments  of  the 
government,  together  with  suggestions  for  the  use  of  labor- 
saving  devices  in  preparing  and  mailing  letters,  etc.,  p. 

5 i 5-554- 

Vertical  flat  filing. 

Briefing. 

Subjective  classification  of  correspondence. 

Registers  of  correspondence. 

The  press  copy  versus  the  carbon  copy. 

The  dictation  machine. 

Mailing  machinery. 

The  window  envelope. 

Rearrangement  of  form  blanks. 

Elimination  of  salutation  and  complimentary  close. 

Report  of  test  of  dictation  machine  in  Post  Office  depart- 
ment. 

Report  of  Navy  department  committee. 

Report  of  Treasury  department  committee. 

Report  of  Department  of  Agriculture  committee. 

Report  of  Post  Office  department  committee. 

Report  of  Department  of  the  Interior  committee. 

Report  of  Department  of  Commerce  and  labor  committee. 
Centralization  of  the  distribution  of  government  publications. 
The  use  of  the  outline  of  organization  of  the  government 

prepared  by  the  Commission  as  a  means  for  showing  cur- 
rently organization  conditions  of  the  government. 
6.    Retirement   from   the   classified   civil   service   of   superannuated 
employees.     Message  from  the  President  of  the  United  States 
transmitting  report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  effi- 
ciency on  the  subject  of  retirement   from  the  classified  civil 
service  of  superannuated  employees.    May  6,  1912.    4,  59,  225, 
264,  49,  8,  5  p.  incl.  diagrs.     (62d  Cong.,  2d  sess.    House.  Doc. 
732.     Serial  No.  6299.) 
Contents. 

96 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Message  of  the  President,  4  p. 

Report  to  the  President  on  retirement  allowances.  April, 
1912.  59  p. 

Savings  and  annuity  plan  proposed  for  retirement  of  super- 
annuated civil  service  employees,  by  Herbert  D.  Brown, 
1911.  225  p.  (Senate  document  No.  745.  6ist  Cong., 
3d  sess.) 

Civil  service  retirement — Great  Britain  and  New  Zealand, 
by  Herbert  D.  Brown.  Prepared  under  the  direction  of 
Chas.  P.  Neill,  commissioner  of  labor.  1910.  264  p. 
(Senate.  Doc.  No.  290,  6ist  Congress,  2d  sess.) 

Civil  service  retirement — New  South  Wales,  Australia.  By 
Herbert  D.  Brown.  Prepared  under  the  direction  of  Chas. 
P.  Neill,  commissioner  of  labor.  1910.  49  p.  (Senate. 
Doc.  No.  420,  6ist  Congress,  2d  sess.) 

The  Hamill,  Maher,  and  Cummins  bills.    8  p. 

Schedule  calling  for  information  with  regard  to  employees. 

5  P. 

7.  The  need  for  a  national  budget.    Message  from  the  President  of 

the  United  States  transmitting  report  of  the  Commission  .  .  . 
on  the  subject  of  the  need  for  a  national  budget.    June  27,  1912. 
568  p.     (62d  Cong.,  2d  sess.     House.     Doc.  No.  854.     Serial 
No.  6300.) 
Contents. 

Message  of  the  President,  p.  1-5. 
The  need  for  a  national  budget. 

Historical  and  descriptive,  p.  13-128. 

Discussion  of  constructive  recommendations  by  the  Com- 
mission, p.  129-224. 

Pro  forma  budget  and  supporting  documents,  p.  225-385. 
Digest  of  laws  governing  the  preparation  and  submission  of 

estimates,  p.  389-407. 
Digest  of  laws  pertaining  to  appropriations  and  allotments, 

p.  409-38. 
Description  of  reports  at  present  submitted  to  Congress  by 

the  several  departments  and  establishments,  p.  439-75. 
Bibliography  of  Congressional  inquiries  into  the  conduct  of 
the  business  of  executive  departments,  other  than  by  stand- 
ing committees  of  Congress,  1789-1911,  p.  477-85. 
Answers  to  questionnaire  on  budget  methods  and  procedure 
in  [38]  foreign  countries,  prepared  by  the  Commission  and 
returned  by  foreign  representatives,  p.  487-568. 

8.  Report  of  the  investigation  of  the  United  States  Patent  Office, 

made   by   the    President's    commission    on    economy    and    effi- 
ciency.    December  9,  1912.     624  p.    (62d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  House. 
Doc.  No.  i  no.     Serial  No.  6469.) 
Contents. 

Message  of  the  President,  p.  7. 
Report  and  recommendations,  p.  9-210. 
Administration. 

Methods  of  examining  applications. 
Interference  procedure. 
Classification  division. 

97 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  scientific  library  and  the  search  room. 
Personnel  of  the  Patent  Office. 
Building  accommodations  and  office  equipment. 
Publications. 

Term  of  patent  and  delays. 
Fees,  revenues,  and  expenditures. 
Miscellaneous. 
Views  of  patent  attorneys. 
Subjects  not  reported  on. 

History  of  the  United  States  patent  system,  p.  211-40. 
United  States  laws  and  rules  of  practice  relating  to  patents, 

trade-mark,  and  print  and  labels,  p.  241-320. 
The  German  patent  law,  p.  321-31. 
The  English  patent  law,  p.  333-67. 
Discussion  of  the  German  patent  law  and  patent  procedure, 

p.  369-410. 
A  comparison  of  the  patent  laws  and  procedure  in  Germany, 

England,  and  the  United  States,  p.  411-43. 
Methods  of  examining  applications,  p.  445-73. 
Publications  of  the  Patent  Office,  p.  475-95. 
Statement  of  the  business  of  the  Patent  Office,  p.  497-518. 
Bibliography  of  the  United  States  Patent  Office,  p.  519-35. 
Classification  of  patents  and  printed  publications,  p.  537-624. 
Message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  transmitting  the 
reports  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency,  January 
8,   1913.     X,  923  p.     (62d  Cong.,  3d  sess.     House.  Doc.  No. 
1252.    Serial  No.  6470.) 
The  Message  of  the  President  was  published  also  in  Circular 

No.  31,  of  the  Commission. 
Contents. 

Message  of  the  President,  p.   1-6. 

Letter  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  p.  7-9. 

Report  to  the  President  on  the  work  of  the  Commission, 

p.  11-38. 
Business  methods  of  the  office  of  the  Adjutant  General, 

War  Department,  p.  39-480. 
Contents : 

A  brief  on  the  legal  aspect  of  the  carbon  copy  as  compared 

with  the  press  copy,  p.  476-480. 

The  handling  and  filing  of  correspondence  in  the  Mail  and 
record  division  of  the  Office  of  the  Chief  of  engineers,  p. 
481-502. 

The  handling  and  filing  of  correspondence  and  the  doing  of 

statistical  work  in  the  Bureau  of  insular  affairs,  p.  503-64. 

The  handling  and  filing  of  correspondence  in  the  Office  of 

the  Surgeon  general,  p.  565-97. 
The  handling  and  filing  of  correspondence  in  the  Office  of 

the  Signal  corps,  p.  599-621. 
The  handling  and  filing  of  correspondence  in  the  Office  of 

the  Chief  of  ordnance,  p.  623-30. 

The  handling  and  filing  of  correspondence  in  the  Mail  and 
record  division  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  p.  631-753, 

98 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Methods  of  keeping  efficiency  records  of  employees  in  the 
National  bank  redemption  agency  of  the  Department  o 
the  Treasury,  p.  755-98. 

Report  on  the  electric  lighting  of  federal  buildings  of  the 

Department  of  the  Treasury,  p.  799-908. 

S    On  the  establishment  of  an  independent  public  health  serv- 
ice, p.  909-15- 

The  recovery  of  fiber  stock  of  canceled  paper  money,  p. 
917-23. 

10.  Underground  pneumatic  tube  system.    Hearing  before  the  Com- 

mittee on  public  buildings  and  grounds,  United  States  Senate, 
Sixty-second  Congress,  third  session  .  .  .  Report  of  the  Presi- 
dent's Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency,  January  9,  1913. 
6  p. 

This  is  Part  II  of  the  Hearings  on  Underground  pneumatic 

tube  system.     Part  I  consists  of  the  Hearing  of  June  7, 

1912. 

11.  Recovery  of  government  waste-paper.     Message  from  the  Pres- 

ident of  the  United  States,  submitting  in  response  to  Senate 
resolution  of  February  21,  1913,  additional  information  rela- 
tive to  the  saving  in  recovery  of  government  waste-paper.  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1913.  1 8  p.  (62d  Cong.,  3d  sess.  Senate.  Doc.  No, 
1105.  Serial  No.  6365.) 

12.  Message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  submitting  for  the 

consideration  of  the  Congress  a  budget,  with  supporting  memo- 
randa and  reports.  February  26,  1913.  433  p.  (620*  Cong., 
3d  sess.  Senate.  Doc.  No.  1113.  Serial  No.  6353.) 
Partial  Contents, 


-7    Memorandum  on  the  need  for  the  organization  of  a  Bureau 
of. central   administrative   control,  p.    187-205. 


Reports  containing 

eral  departments  for  changes  in  law  affecting  the  organi- 

zation, work,  personnel,  and  business  methods  of  the  gov- 

ernment, p.  207-335. 
Summary  of  constructive  recommendations  contained  in  the 

annual   reports  of  the   executive  departments  and  other 

establishments,  p.  337-90. 
List  of  positions  to  which  appointments  are  made  by  the 

President  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  p. 

391-433- 


2.    CtrcwZar,?  Printed  by  the  Commission 

No.  i.  Outline  for  the  reclassification  of  estimates  of  government 
expenditures  on  a  uniform  basis.  1910.  13  p. 

No.  2.  Tentative  outline  for  the  reclassification  of  objects  of  gov- 
ernment expenditures  on  a  uniform  basis  with  a  detail 
classification  and  codification  of  war  equipment.  1910. 
22  p. 

No.  3.  Tentative  outline  and  numbering  of  the  several  bureaus 
and  division  of  the  Navy,  prepared  by  the  Committee 
on  economy  and  efficiency  of  the  Department  of  the 
Navy.  1911.  16  p. 

99 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

No.  4.  Interim  report  on  plan  of  inquiry  and  progress  of  work 
from  September  27  to  December  31,  1910.  1911.  33  p. 

No.  5.  Questions  to  be  answered  and  memorandum  of  instructions 
to  be  followed  in  the  preparation  of  report  (form  6) 
asked  for  on  the  subject  of  the  handling  and  filing  of  cor- 
respondence. 1911.  13  p. 

No.  6.  Description  of  expenditure  documents  and  procedure  for 
the  purchase  of  supplies,  materials,  equipment,  and  serv- 
ices other  than  personal  and  for  the  distribution  of  sup- 
plies and  materials  from  stores.  1911.  50  p.  incl.  forms. 

No.     7.     (Not  printed.) 

No.  8.  Definition  and  classification  of  expenditures  for  services 
other  than  personal-transportation  of  persons.  1911.  33  p. 

No.  9.  Definition  and  classification  of  expenditures  for  services 
other  than  personal-subsistence  and  support  of  persons. 
1911.  21  p. 

No.  10.  Revised  outline  for  the  reclassification  of  objects  of  gov- 
ernment expenditures  on  a  uniform  basis.  1911.  20  p. 
(Revision  of  Circular  2.) 

No.  n.  Outline  illustrating  the  use  of  a  uniform  classification  of 
stationery,  drafting,  scientific  and  educational  supplies  for 
the  purpose  of  correlating  specification  numbers  with  a 
code  for  common  analysis  of  accounts.  1911.  30  p. 

No.  12.  Catalogue  and  price  list  of  supplies  for  use  in  the  Bureau 
of  the  Census.  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 
1911.  13  p. 

No.  13.  Description  of  accounting  forms  suggested  as  a  means  of 
.  obtaining  the  information  needed  about  appropriations 
and  funds,  stores,  expenses,  capital  outlays,  etc.  1911. 
14  p.  13  fold,  forms. 

No.  14.  Proposed  business  and  accounting  procedure  of  the  United 
States  Indian  Service,  Department  of  the  Interior,  sub- 
mitted through  the  Committee  on  economy  and  efficiency 
of  the  Department  of  the  Interior.  1911.  17  p.  20  forms. 

No.  15.  Questions  to  be  answered  and  instructions  to  be  followed  in 
the  preparation  of  report  asked  for  on  the  subject  of  the 
collection  of  cost  data,  the  keeping  of  cost  accounts,  and 
the  making  of  cost  reports.  1911.  22  p. 

No.  16.  Circular  in  re  reports  to  be  prepared  by  committees  on 
economy  and  efficiency  of  the  executive  deartments  and 
independent  establishments  regarding  (i)  Action  taken 
during  the  present  administration  looking  to  the  effecting 
of  economies  and  increased  efficiency,  (2)  Publications 
being  issued  by  the  executive  departments  and  establish- 
ments, (3)  Departmental  and  bureau  libraries.  1911. 
20  p. 

No.  17.  Organization  charts  of  the  Department  of  the  Navy.  Pre- 
pared as  part  of  a  report  on  the  organization  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  as  shown  by  outlines  of 
organization,  charts  and  maps.  1911.  3  p.  36  charts. 

No.  1 8.  Suggestions  as  to  schedules  of  documents  and  registers  of 
documents  and  schedules  for  use  in  developing  a  uniform 
IOO 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION- 

system    of    controlling   accounts    and    summary    reports. 
1911.    16  p.  incl.  forms. 

No.  19.  Outline  of  classification  of  objects  of  government  expendi- 
ture on  a  uniform  basis,  with  symbols  for  convenient  ref- 
erence to  price  lists  and  catalogues.  1911.  131  p. 

No.  20.  Suggested  forms  for  reporting  assets  and  liabilities,  reve- 
nues and  expenses,  funds  and  appropriations  together 
with  definitions  of  governmental  accounting  and  report- 
ing terms.  1911.  21  p.  incl.  forms. 

No.  21.  Memorandum  of  conclusions  reached  by  the  Commission 
concerning  the  principles  that  should  govern  in  the  mat- 
ter of  handling  and  filing  correspondence  and  preparing 
and  mailing  communications  in  connection  with  the  work 
of  the  several  departments  of  the  government,  together 
with  suggestions  for  the  use  of  labor-saving  devices  in 
preparing  and  mailing  letters,  etc.  1912.  36  p. 
—  Same.  Revised  edition.  1912.  42  p. 

No.  22.  Report  to  the  President  on  the  use  of  the  outline  of  organi- 
zation of  the  government,  prepared  by  the  Commission  as 
a  means  for  showing  currently  organization  conditions  of 
the  government.  1912.  8  p. 

No.  23.  Memorandum  concerning  the  work  completed  and  in  prog- 
ress by  the  President's  Commission  .  .  .  submitted  for 
the  information  of  the  Committee  on  appropriations  of 
the  House  of  Representatives.  1912.  18  p. 

No.  24.  Questions  to  be  answered  and  memorandum  of  instructions 
to  be  followed  in  the  preparation  of  report  (Form  6) 
asked  for  on  the  subject  of  the  keeping  of  service  records 
and  the  preparation  and  payment  of  pay  rolls,  etc.  up. 
(Manuscript.) 

No.  25.  Instructions  to  be  followed  in  the  preparation  of  analyses 
of  estimates  and  expenditures  called  for  by  the  President, 
July  10,  1912.  1912.  9  p. 

No.  26.  Report  to  the  President  recommending  the  preparation  of 
alphabetical  lists  or  catalogues  to  be  used  in  the  several 
branches  of  the  service  in  the  preparation  of  requisitions, 
orders  and  other  expenditure  documents.  1912.  22  p. 

No.  27.  Instructions  to  be  followed  in  the  analysis  of  salaries  and 
wages  by  classes  of  employees  and  other  compensation  for 
personal  services  paid  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States.  1912.  24  p. 

No.  28.     Questions  to  be  answered  and  instructions  to  be  followed 
.    in  the  preparation  of  report  asked  for  on  the  subject  of 
telegraph  and  cable  business  and  cipher  coding  systems. 
1913.     8  p. 

No.  29.  Report  on  the  preliminary  inquiry  made  under  authority  of 
the  Sundry  civil  appropriation  act  of  June  25,  1910,  prior 
to  the  organization  of  the  President's  Commission  on 
economy  and  efficiency.  [September  27,  1910,  to  March 
8,  1911.]  1913.  18  p. 

No.  30.  Report  to  the  President  by  the  Commission  on  economy  and 
efficiency.  [Oct.  30,  1911.]  1913.  32  p. 

No.  31.     Message  of  the  President  transmitting  reports  of  the  Com- 

101 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

mission  on  economy  and  efficiency,  January  8,  1913,  to- 
gether with  a  brief  memorandum  descriptive  of  the  work 
of  the  Commission  since  its  organization.     1913.     19  p. 
Published  also  in  House  Doc.  No.  1252,  62d  Cong.,  3d 
sess.     Serial  No.  6470. 

No.  32.  The  administrative  purpose  of  the  accounting  methods  and 
procedures  which  have  been  installed  in  the  departments. 

1913-     13  P- 

No.  33.  Conclusions  reached  with  respect  to  expenditure  accounting 
and  reporting.  A  discussion  of  the  information  needed 
and  of  the  methods  recommended  as  a  means  of  pro- 
ducing it.  1913.  53  p.  illus. 

No.  34.  Report  by  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  sub- 
mitted to  the  President,  December  18,  1912,  and  sent  to 
Congress  with  the  message  of  the  President,  January  8, 
1913.  1913.  28  p. 

Published  also  in  House  Doc.  No.  1252,  62d  Cong.,  3d 
sess.     Serial  No.  6470. 

No.  35.  Report  on  methods  of  keeping  efficiency  records  of  em- 
ployees in  the  National  Bank  Redemption  Agency  of  the 
Department  of  the  Treasury.  1913.  44  p. 

J.    Miscellaneous  Documents  bearing  upon  the  Work  of  the 
Commission 

e  Hearings  before  Committees  of  Congress. 
Statement  of  [Charles  D.  Norton]  the  Secretary  to  the  Presi- 
dent, concerning  the  President's  Inquiry  in  re  Economy  and 
Efficiency,  before  the  subcommittee  of  the  House  Committee 
on  Appropriations  .  .  .  Feb.  6,  1911.    16  p. 
Hearings  before  subcommittee  of  House  Committee  on  Ap- 
propriations ...  in  charge  of  Sundry  Civil  Appropriation 
Bill  for  1913,  relating  to  the  President's  Commission  on  Econ- 
omy and  Efficiency.     1912.    35-175  p. 

Hearings  before  subcommittee  of  House  Committee  on  Ap- 
propriations in  charge  of  Sundry  Civil  Appropriations  Bill 
for  1914,  relating  to  the  President's  Commission  on  Econ- 
omy and  Efficiency,  and  before  sub-committee  of  Senate 
Committee  on  Appropriations,  relating  to  certain  reports  of 
the  Commission  affecting  items  in  the  legislative,  executive 
and  judicial  appropriation  bill  for  1914.  January  10  and  13, 

*9ll>>    75  P- 

Underground  pneumatic  tube  system.  Hearing  before  the 
Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds,  United  States 
Senate,  Sixty-second  Congress,  third  session  .  .  .  Report  of 
the  President's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency. 
January  9,  1913.  6  p. 

This  is  Part  II  of  the  Hearings  on  Underground  pneumatic 
tube  system.    Part  I  consists  of  the  Hearing  of  June  7,  1912. 
2.     Letter  of  the  President  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Copy  of  letter  by  the  President  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, relative  to  the  submission  of  a  budget  to  Congress.  Sept. 
19,  1912.  8  p. 

102 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Treasury  Circulars. 

Department  Circular  No.  34.  1911.  The  principles  which 
should  govern  expenditure  accounting  and  reporting  in  the 
several  departments  after  July  I,  1911.  June  20,  1911.  3  p. 

Department  Circular  No.  35.  1911.  Principles  governing  the 
forms  of  expenditure  documents  and  the  character  of  evi- 
dence to  be  prepared  and  kept  pertaining  to  transactions 
involving  the  expenditure  of  public  money.  May  20,  1911. 
2  p. 

Department  Circular  No.  36.  1911.  Definitions  of  classes  of 
expenditures  outlined  in  Circular  No.  34  (revised),  govern- 
ing expenditure  accounting  and  reporting.  June  21,  1911. 
ii  p. 

Department  Circular  No.  27.  1912.  Transportation  of  gov- 
ernment employees  and  property.  June  15,  1912.  38  p. 


103 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


United   States  Bureau  of  Efficiency,   1913.     The  United 


States  Bureau  of  Efficiency  may  be  looked  upon,  in  a  measure, 
as  a  successor  of  the  President's  Commission  on  Economy  and 
Efficiency.  At  the  time  the  commission  went  out  of  existence 
it  had  under  investigaHbn^ffie  subject  of  the  establishment  in 
the  government  services  of  systems  for  the  determination  of 
the  efficiency  with  which  employees  performed  their  duties. 
Though  declining  to  continue  the  commission,  Congress  was 
desirous  that  this  work  should  be  proceeded  with.  It  accord- 
ingly inserted  in  the  legislative,  executive  and  judicial  ap- 
propriation act  for  1913,  approved  August  23,  1912,  the  fol- 
lowing clause  providing  for  the  continuance  of  this  work  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 

The  Civil  Service  Commission  shall,  subject  to  the  approv- 
al of  the  President,  establish  a  system  of  efficiency  ratings  for 
the  classified  service  in  the  several  executive  departments  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  based  upon  records  kept  in  each  de- 
partment and  independent  establishment  with  such  frequency 
as  to  make  them  as  nearly  as  possible  records  of  fact.  Such 
system  shall  provide  a  minimum  rating  of  efficiency  which 
must  be  attained  by  an  employee  before  he  may  be  promoted; 
it  shall  also  provide  a  rating  below  which  no  employee  may  fall 
without  being  demoted ;  it  shall  further  provide  for  a  rating 
below  which  no  employee  may  fall  without  being  dismissed  for 
inefficiency.  All  promotions,  demotions,  or  dismissals  shall 
be  governed  by  provisions  of  the  civil  service  rules.  Copies 
of  all  records  of  efficiency  shall  be  furnished  by  the  depart- 
ments and  independent  establishments  to  the  Civil  Service 
Commission  for  record  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
this  section :  PROVIDED,  That  in  the  event  of  reductions  being 
made  in  the  force  in  any  of  the  executive  departments  no  hon- 
orably discharged  soldier  or  sailor  whose  record  in  said  depart- 
ment is  rated  good  shall  be  discharged  or  dropped,  or  reduced 
in  rank  or  salary. 

Due  to  the  fact  that  no  appropriation  was  made  for  this 
work,  the  Civil  Service  Commission  was  unable  to  take  any 
active  steps  looking  to  the  carrying  out  of  this  direction. 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

This  omission  was  corrected  by  the  legislative,  executive 
and  judicial  appropriation  act  for  1914,  approved  March  4, 
1913,  the  clause  carrying  the  appropriation  reading  as  follows : 

Establishment  and  maintenance  of  system  of  efficiency 
ratings  for  initial  year:  For  the  establishment  and  mainte- 
nance of  system  of  efficiency  ratings  for  initial  year,  $15,000, 
to  be  immediately  available.  The  Civil  Service  Commission 
shall  investigate  and  report  to  the  President,  with  its  recom- 
mendations, as  to  the  administrative  needs  of  the  service  re- 
lating to  personnel  in  the  several  executive  departments  and 
independent  establishments  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
report  to  Congress  details  of  expenditure  and  of  progress  of 
work  hereunder  at  the  beginning  of  each  regular  session: 
PROVIDED,  That  no  person  shall  be  employed  hereunder  at  a 
compensation  in  excess  of  $4,000  per  annum. 

This  appropriation  being  immediately  available  the  Civil 
Service  Commission  at  once,  i.e.,  March  25,  1913,  established 
a  Division  of  Efficiency  to  have  charge  of  the  work  and 
placed  at  its  head  MrT  Herbert  P,  Frown,  who,  as  a  member 
of  the  staff  of  the  President's  Commission  on, .Ec^njariiy^^uid... 
Efficiency,  had  had  the  direction  uf  work  in  this  field  by  that 
body. 

The  continuance  of  this  work  was  authorized  by  the  leg- 
islative, executive  and  judicial  appropriation  bill  for  1915, 
approved  July  16,  1914,  which  made  an  additional  grant  of 
$30,000  for  this  purpose.  Since  the  clause  making  this  appro- 
priation reads  substantially  as  that  for  the  previous  year,  it 
is  not  here  reproduced. 

The  legislative,  executive  and  judicial  appropriation  act 
for  1916,  approved  March  4,  1915,  likewise  appropriated  $30,- 
ooo  for  the  work,  but  in  doing  so  made  two  innovations  which 
are  of  importance.  The  first  is  that  the  appropriation  was 
made  in  the  form  of  a  grant  for  the  maintenance  of  a  service 
instead  of  the  mere  prosecution  of  a  piece  of  work,  and  thus, 
in  effect,  established  a  permanent  service.  The  second  is  that 
the  duties  of  this  service  were  enlarged  so  as  to  cover  not  only 
the  establishment  of  efficiency  ratings,  but  "investigation  of 
the  needs  of  the  several  executive  departments  and  independ- 
ent establishments  with  respect  to  personnel;  and  for  in- 

105 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

vestigation  of  duplication  of  statistical  and  other  work  and 
methods  of  business  in  the  various  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment service."  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  service 
was  in  effect  given  the  broad  functions  of  an  efficiency  service. 
Following  is  the  clause  making  this  provision : 

Division  of  Efficiency :  For  establishment  and  maintenance 
of  system  of  efficiency  ratings,  pursuant  to  section  four  of  the 
legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  appropriation  Act  for  the 
fiscal  year  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  for  investigation  of 
the  needs  of  the  several  executive  departments  and  independent 
establishments  with  respect  to  personnel ;  and  for  investigation 
of  duplication  of  statistical  and  other  work  and  methods  of 
business  in  the  various  branches  of  the  Government  service;  in- 
cluding not  more  than  $2,500  for  equipment,  supplies,  sta- 
tionery, books,  and  printing;  and  not  more  than  $50  for  street 
car  fare,  $30,000;  the  chief  of  the  Division  of  Efficiency  herein 
provided  for  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President  and  shall  re- 
port to  Congress  at  the  beginning  of  each  regular  session, 
through  the  President,  the  nature  and  progress  of  work  under- 
taken by  the  division  together  with  a  detailed  statement  of 
expenditures  showing  the  persons  employed,  their  duties,  and 
the  compensation  paid  to  each:  PROVIDED,  That  no  person 
shall  be  employed  hereunder  at  a  compensation  in  excess  of 
$4,000  per  annum. 

The  urgent  deficiency  act  for  1916,  approved  February  28, 
1916,  besides  making  a  further  appropriation  of  $1,200  for 
the  division,  made  the  additional  important  change  of  taking 
the  division  from  under  the  Civil  Service  Commission  and 
erecting  it  into  an  independent  establishment  under  the  name 
of  "Bureau  of  Efficiency."  This  was  done  by  the  following 
clause : 

Bureau  of  Efficiency :  For  investigating  duplication  of  sta- 
tistical and  other  work  in  the  various  branches  of  the  Govern- 
ment service,  $1,200:  PROVIDED,  That  hereafter  the  Divi- 
sion of  Efficiency  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission  shall  be  an 
independent  establishment  and  shall  be  known  as  the  Bureau 
of  Efficiency;  and  the  officers  and  employees  of  the  said 
division  shall  be  transferred  to  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency  with- 
out reappointment,  and  the  records  and  papers  pertaining  to 
the  work  of  the  said  division  and  the  furniture,  equipment, 

106 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

and  supplies  that  have  been  purchased  for  it  shall  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  said  bureau:  AND  PROVIDED  FURTHER,  That 
the  duties  relating  to  efficiency  ratings  imposed  upon  the 
Civil  Service  Commission  by  section  four  of  the  legislative, 
executive,  and  judicial  appropriation  act  approved  August 
twenty-third,  nineteen  hundred  and  twelve,  and  the  duty  of  in- 
vestigating the  administrative  needs  of  the  service  relating 
to  personnel  in  the  several  executive  departments  and  inde- 
pendent establishments,  imposed  on  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion by  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  appropriation 
Act  approved  March  fourth,  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen, 
are  transferred  to  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency. 

The  legislative,  executive  and  judicial  appropriation  act 
for  1917,  approved  May  10,  1916,  raised  the  annual  appro- 
priation of  the  bureau  to  $40,000  and  expressed  its  powers  and 
duties  as  an  efficiency  service  in  still  broader  terms.  The 
clause  providing  for  the  bureau  reads : 

Bureau  of  Efficiency :  To  enable  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency, 
authorized  by  the  urgent  deficiency  appropriation  Act  ap- 
proved February  twenty-eighth,  nineteen  hundred  and  six- 
teen, to  establish  and  maintain  a  system  of  efficiency  ratings, 
to  investigate  administrative  needs  of  the  service  relating  to 
personnel  in  the  several  executive  departments  and  independent 
establishments,  required  by  the  legislative,  executive  and  judi- 
cial appropriation  Acts  for  the  fiscal  years  nineteen  hundred 
and  thirteen  and  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  respectively, 
and  to  investigate  duplication  of  statistical  and  other  work 
and  methods  of  business  in  the  various  branches  of  the  Gov- 
ernment service;  for  purchase  or  exchange  of  equipment,  sup- 
plies, stationery,  books  and  periodicals,  printing  and  binding, 
traveling  expenses  not  exceeding  $100,  and  street  car  fare  not 
exceeding  $50;  in  all,  $40,000:  PROVIDED,  That  no  person 
shall  be  employed  hereunder  at  a  compensation  exceeding 
$4,000  per  annum. 

By  Senate  resolution  of  May  16,  1916,  the  bureau  was 
directed  to  prepare  and  submit  to  the  Senate  estimates  of  the 
immediate  and  ultimate  cost  of  pensioning  the  civil  employees 
of  the  government. 

By  act  of  Congress,  approved  May  18,  1916,  making  ap- 
propriations for  the  support  of  the  Bureau  of  Indian  Affairs 

107 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

for  1917,  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency  was  directed  to  prepare 
and  submit  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  a  system  of  book- 
keeping and  accounting  for  the  bureau.  This  was  done  by  the 
following  clause: 

Section  38.  On  or  before  the  thirty-first  day  of  December, 
nineteen  hundred  and  sixteen,  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency  shall 
prepare  and  submit  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  a  system 
of  bookkeeping  and  accounting  for  the  Bureau  of  Indian  Af- 
fairs that  will  enable  the  said  Secretary,  on  or  before  July  first, 
nineteen  hundred  and  seventeen,  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
section  twenty-six  of  the  Indian  Appropriation  Act  approved 
June  thirtieth,  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen  (Thirty-eighth 
Statutes  at  Large,  page  one  hundred  and  three).1 

In  the  same  year  Congress,  by  the  act  of  September  8,  1916, 
making  provision  for  deficiencies  for  the  year  1916,  reappro- 
priated  the  sum  of  $4,000,  which  had  been  granted  by  the 
deficiency  act  of  March  4,  1915,  for  the  development  of  me- 
chanical means  for  writing  and  auditing  checks  in  payment 
of  pensions,  and  directed  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency  to  make 

1  The  act  of  June  30,  1913,  provides  as  follows : 

Section  26.  On  or  before  the  first  day  of  July,  nineteen  hundred 
and  fourteen,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  shall  cause  a  system  of 
bookkeeping  to  be  installed  in  the  Bureau  of  Indian  Affairs,  which 
will  afford  a  ready  analysis  of  expenditures  by  appropriations  and 
allotments  and  by  units  of  the  service,  showing  for  each  class  of  work 
or  activity  carried  on,  the  expenditures  for  the  operation  of  the 
service,  for  repairs  and  preservation  of-  property,  for  new  and  addi- 
tional property,  salaries  and  wages  of  employees,  and  for  other  ex- 
penditures. Provision  shall  be  made  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
for  further  analysis  of  each  of  the  foregoing  classes  of  expenditures, 
if,  in  his  judgment,  he  shall  deem  it  advisable. 

Annually,  after  July  first,  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  a  de- 
tailed statement  of  expenditures,  as  hereinbefore  described,  shall  be 
incorporated  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs  and  transmitted  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  Congress 
on  or  before  the  first  Monday  in  December. 

Before  any  appropriation  for  the  Indian  Service  is  obligated  or 
expended,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  shall  make  allotments  thereof 
in  conformity  with  the  intent  and  purpose  of  this  Act,  and  such  al- 
lotments shall  not  be  altered  or  modified  except  with  his  approval. 

After  July  first,  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  the  estimates  for 
appropriations  for  the  Indian  Service,  submitted  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  shall  be  accompanied  by  a  detailed  statement,  classified 
in  the  manner  prescribed  in  the  first  paragraph  of  this  section,  show- 
ing the  purposes  for  which  the  appropriations  are  required. 

108 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

a  general  investigation  of  the  business  methods  of  the  Bureau 
of  Pensions,  and  also  directed  that  the  bureau  should  investi- 
gate the  methods  of  transacting  business  in  the  Bureau  of 
Internal  Revenue.  The  sections  of  the  act  covering  these 
points  read : 

Bureau  of  Efficiency :  The  sum  of  $4,000  appropriated  by 
the  deficiency  appropriation  Act,  approved  March  fourth, 
nineteen  hundred  and  fifteen,  for  the  purchase,  rental,  ex- 
change, and  remodeling  of  labor-saving  machinery,  equipment, 
and  supplies  necessary  to  enable  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency  to 
demonstrate  an  improved  system  of  paying  pensions  is  reap- 
propriated  and  made  available  for  expenditure  during  the  fiscal 
year  nineteen  hundred  and  seventeen;  PROVIDED,  That  the 
equipment  purchased  hereunder  shall  become  the  property 
of  the  Bureau  of  Pensions  when  the  demonstration  is  com- 
pleted; PROVIDED  FURTHER,  That  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency 
shall  investigate  the  business  methods  of  the  Bureau  of  Pen- 
sions and  prepare  recommendations  for  the  improvement 
thereof  and  submit  the  same  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
as  early  as  practicable  for  his  approval. 

Not  exceeding  $3,000  of  the  appropriation  for  the  Bureau 
of  Efficiency  made  in  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial 
appropriation  Act  for  the  fiscal  year  nineteen  hundred  and 
seventeen  may  be  used  by  the  bureau  for  necessary  traveling 
expenses  incurred  and  to  be  incurred  in  carrying  out  section 
twenty-eight  of  the  Indian  appropriation  Act  for  the  fiscal 
year  nineteen  hundred  and  seventeen  and  performing  other 
duties  imposed  upon  it  by  law. 

The  Bureau  of  Efficiency  shall  investigate  the  methods  of 
transacting  the  public  business  in  the  Bureau  of  Internal  Rev- 
enue and  prepare  recommendations  for  the  improvement 
thereof  and  submit  the  same  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
as  early  as  practicable  for  his  approval  and  to  Congress  at  its 
next  session. 

The  legislative,  executive  and  judicial  appropriation  act 
for  1918,  approved  March  3,  1917,  not  only  raised  the  annual 
grant  for  the  support  of  the  bureau  to  $60,000  and  confirmed 
its  general  powers,  but  imposed  upon  the  bureau  the  perform- 
ance of  a  number  of  highly  important  tasks.  These  sections 
of  the  act  read : 

109 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

To  enable  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency,  authorized  by  the 
urgent  deficiency  appropriation  Act,  approved  February 
twenty-eighth,  nineteen  hundred  and  sixteen,  to  establish  and 
maintain  a  system  of  efficiency  ratings,  to  investigate  ad- 
ministrative needs  of  the  service  relating  to  personnel  in  the 
several  executive  departments  and  independent  establishments, 
required  by  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  appropria- 
tion Acts  for  the  fiscal  years  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen 
and  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen,  respectively,  and  to  in- 
vestigate duplication  of  statistical  and  other  work  and  methods 
of  business  in  the  various  branches  of  the  Government  serv- 
ice; for  purchase  or  exchange  of  equipment,  supplies,  sta- 
tionery, books  and  periodicals,  printing  and  binding,  traveling 
expenses  not  exceeding  $3,000,  and  street  car  fare  not  ex- 
ceeding $50 ;  in  all,  $60,000 :  PROVIDED,  That  no  person  shall 
be  employed  hereunder  at  a  compensation  exceeding  $4,000 
per  annum. 

The  Bureau  of  Efficiency  shall  investigate  the  methods  of 
examining  and  auditing  claims  against  the  United  States 
and  accounts  of  disbursing  officers,  and  of  accounting 
for  receipts  and  disbursements  and  shall  submit  a  report  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  to  Congress,  with  recom- 
mendations, at  its  next  regular  session. 

The  Bureau  of  Efficiency  shall  investigate  the  work  per- 
formed by  the  Subtreasuries  and  report  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  and  to  Congress  at  the  beginning  of  the  next 
regular  session  what  part  of  the  work  of  the  Subtreasuries  may 
be  transferred  to  other  offices  of  the  government,  banks  of 
the  Federal  Reserve  System  or  Farm  Loan  Banks,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  this  investigation  the  representatives  of  the 
Bureau  of  Efficiency  shall  have  access  to  all  necessary  books 
and  other  records  of  the  government. 

The  Bureau  of  Efficiency  shall  investigate  the  methods  of 
transacting  the  public  business  in  the  Civil  Service  Commis- 
sion and  report  to  Congress  through  the  President  at  the  next 
regular  session  of  Congress.  The  officers  and  employees  of 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  are  hereby  directed  to  furnish 
said  bureau  with  such  information  as  it  may  require  to  carry 
out  this  provision. 

The  Bureau  of  Efficiency  shall  ascertain  the  rates  of  pay 
of  employees  of  various  State  and  municipal  .governments  and 
commercial  institutions  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States 
and  shall  submit  to  Congress  at  its  next  regular  session  a  re- 

IIO 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

port  showing  how  such  rates  compare  with  the  rates  of  pay 
of  employees  of  the  Federal  Government  performing  similar 
services. 

Officers  and  employees  of  the  executive  departments  and 
other  establishments  shall  furnish  authorized  representatives 
of  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency  with  all  information  that  the 
bureau  may  require  for  the  performance  of  the  duties  imposed 
on  it  by  law,  and  shall  give  such  representatives  access  to  all 
records  and  papers  that  may  be  needed  for  that  purpose. 

The  Bureau  of  Efficiency  shall  investigate  the  classifica- 
tion, salary,  and  efficiency  of  the  employees  of  the  Depart- 
ments and  Independent  Establishments  of  the  government  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  and  report  fully  or  partially  to 
Congress  by  January  first,  nineteen  hundred  and  eighteen,  as 
to  needed  equalization  or  reclassification,  and  if  a  partial  re- 
port be  submitted  then  a  full  report  shall  be  submitted  as  soon 
thereafter  as  possible  with  such  recommendations  as  the 
bureau  may  deem  proper.1 

The  importance  of  this  bureau  is  such  that  we  have  thought 
it  worth  while  to  give  its  legislative  history  in  detail.  From 
it,  it  will  be  seen  that  not  only  has  the  bureau  been  given  ex- 
ceedingly broad  powers  in  respect  to  the  making  of  investi- 
gations having  for  their  purpose  the  effecting  of  economy  and 
efficiency  in  the  administration  of  the  national  government, 
but  that  Congress  made  free  use  of  the  service  as  an  agent 
to  undertake  specific  lines  of  work  which  it  believed  should  be 
done.  In  fact,  thus  the  bureau,  notwithstanding  that  its 
legal  status  is  that  of  a  part  of  the  administrative  branch  of 
the  government,  is  functioning  largely  as  a  direct  agent  of 
the  legislative  branch. 

It  is  not  feasible  for  us  to  attempt  anything  like  a  detailed 
statement  of  the  work  that  has  actually  been  done  by  the 
bureau.  The  bureau  has  published  two  administrative  reports, 
one  covering  the  period  from  March  25,  1913,  to  October  31, 
1916,  and  the  other  from  the  latter  date  to  October  31,  1917. 
From  these  reports  it  is  possible  for  the  persons  interested  to 
learn  the  extent  to  which  the  bureau  has  been  able  to  complete 
its  program.  It  is  of  course  evident  that  the  general  duties 
of  the  bureau  are  of  a  character  that  will  require  years  of 

'39  Stat.,  1080, 

III 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

work  for  their  adequate  performance,  if,   indeed,  they  can 
ever  be  definitely  concluded. 

In  addition  there  was  conferred  upon  the  bureau  a  sweep- 
ing general  power  to  "investigate  duplication  of  service" 
throughout  the  government,  and  the  President  was  authorized, 
but  only  after  report  of  such  duplication  should  have  been 
made  by  the  bureau,  "to  abolish  the  same."  This  section 
reads : 1 

The  Bureau  of  Efficiency  shall  investigate  duplication  of 
service  in  the  various  executive  departments  and  establish- 
ments of  the  Government,  including  bureaus  and  divisions, 
and  make  a  report  to  the  President  thereon,  and  the  President 
is  hereby  authorized,  after  such  report  shall  have  been  made 
to  him,  wherever  he  finds  such  duplications  to  exist  to  abolish 
the  same.  Report  of  the  action  taken  hereunder  shall  be  made 
to  Congress  at  its  next  regular  session. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Accounting  system  for  the  United  States  Indian  service,  by  Victor 
G.  Croissant  .  .  .  James  A.  Councilor  .  .  .  James  V.   Brownell 
.  .  .  1917.     190  p.  incl.  tables,  diagrs.,  forms. 
At  head  of  title :     Department  of  the  interior.     Office  of  Indian 
affairs. 

Report  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  efficiency  for  the  period  from 
March  25,  1913,  to  October  31,  1916.    1917.    27  p. 
Issued  also  as  House  Doc.  1793,  64th  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

Report  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  efficiency  for  the  period  from 
November  I,  1916,  to  October  31,  1917.     1918.    17  p. 
Issued  also  as  House  Doc.  901,  65th  Cong.,  2d  sess. 

Work  performed  by  the  subtreasuries.    Letter  from  the  Chief,  Bureau 
of  efficiency,  transmitting  report  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  efficiency 
covering  the  work  performed  by  the  subtreasuries.     1918.    39  p. 
(65th  Cong.,  2d  sess.     House.     Doc.  No.  867.) 
Partial  Contents. 

Plan  to  consolidate  subtreasuries  of  the  United  States  with 

federal  reserve  banks. 
History  [of  the  Subtreasury  system]. 

Deficiency  appropriation — Bureau  of  efficiency  ...  a  supplemental 
estimate  of  appropriation  for  the  fiscal  year  1918.  Jan.  3,  1918. 
i  p.  (65th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Doc.  No.  735.) 

Bureau  of  efficiency  employees.  Letter  from  the  Chief,  Bureau  of 
efficiency,  transmitting  statement  showing  in  detail  the  number 
of  employees  of  the  Bureau  .  .  .  whose  compensation  was  in- 
creased by  section  7,  appropriation  act  approved  March  3,  1917. 
Jan.  26,  1918.  i  p.  (65th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Doc.  No.  870.) 

'39  Stat,  1 122. 

112 


AGENCIES  FOR  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Travel  expense,  Bureau  of  efficiency.  Letter  from  the  Chief,  Bureau 
of  efficiency,  transmitting  statement  showing  in  detail  what  offi- 
cers and  employees  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  efficiency 
have  traveled  on  official  business  from  Washington  to  points 
outside  the  District  of  Columbia  during  the  fiscal  year  ended 
June  30,  1917.  2  p.  (65th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  House.  Doc.  No.  869.) 


CHAPTER  III 

AGENCIES   FOR   INVESTIGATING   THE   ADMINIS- 
TRATION OF  PARTICULAR  STATES :  OFFICIAL 

As  in  the  case  of  the  national  government,  spasmodic 
efforts  have  always  been  made  by  our  state  governments  to  im- 
prove particular  features  of  their  administration.  It  was 
not  until  the  last  decade,  however,  that  these  governments  have 
attempted  anything  like  a  general  inquiry  into  the  character 
of  their  administrative  organizations  and  methods  with  a 
view  to  the  introduction  of  changes  of  a  general  or  funda- 
mental character.  This  action  has  taken  the  form  of  the 
establishment  by  law  of  bodies  to  which  have  been  generally 
given  the  name  of  economy  and  efficiency  commissions  with 
the  broad  duty  of  investigating  existing  administrative  con- 
ditions and  recommending  to  the  legislature  changes  in  them 
which  in  their  opinion  would  lead  to  greater  administrative 
efficiency  and  economy. 

The  creation  of  these  bodies  was  undoubtedly  suggested 
by  the  establishment  and  work  of  the  President's  Commission 
on  Economy  and  Efficiency  and  the  general  movement  for 
efficient  administration  so  effectively  promoted  by  the  privately 
established  and  maintained  bureaus  of  municipal  research. 
These  commissions  have  naturally  varied  somewhat  in  their 
character.  Some  consisted  simply  of  members  of  the  two 
houses  of  the  legislature ;  others  provided  for  the  appointment 
of  private  individuals  who  were  believed  to  have  special  com- 
petence in  administrative  matters.  The  value  of  their  work 
has  correspondingly  varied.  Some  have  been  able  to  do  little 
more  than  formulate  general  recommendations.  Others  have 
been  in  a  position  to  make  detailed  studies,  not  only  of  organ- 
ization conditions,  but  of  technical  processes,  and  to  suggest 
changes  of  a  far-reaching  character. 

Due  to  the  fact  that  these  commissions  in  most  cases  have 

114 


AGENCIES   OF  PARTICULAR   STATES,   OFFICIAL 

been  temporary  bodies,  and  have  had  only  limited  funds  at 
their  disposal,  they  have  been  able  to  prepare  only  general 
reports  giving  the  results  of  their  inquiries  and  findings.  In 
regard  to  most  of  them,  little  is,  therefore,  to  be  noted  beyond 
the  fact  of  their  establishment,  their  purpose  as  declared  by 
the  statutes  creating  them,  and  the  citations  of  the  report  and 
recommendations  made  by  them. 

New  Jersey:  Economy  and  Efficiency  Commission.  The 
first  state  to  provide  for  the  establishment  of  a  special  com- 
mission to  consider  the  putting  of  the  administrative  system 
of  the  state  upon  a  more  efficient  and  economical  basis  was 
New  Jersey.  By  a  joint  resolution,  approved  April  i,  19 121 
provision  was  made  for  the  creation  of  a  commission  of  seven 
members,  two  of  whom  were  to  be  members  of  the  Senate, 
appointed  by  the  President  of  the  Senate;  two  members  of 
the  House  of  Assembly,  appointed  by  the  Speaker  of  the 
House ;  and  three  citizens  of  the  state  of  New  Jersey,  appointed 
by  the  Governor,  which  should  have  the  duty  "of  considering 
the  best  means  to  consolidate  various  boards  and  to  broaden 
the  powers  in  one  central  board  or  boards."  The  full  title  of 
this  commission  was  "Commission  upon  the  Reorganization 
and  Consolidation  of  Different  Departments  of  the  State 
Government  whose  Functions  are  Interrelated."  It  is  usually 
known,  however,  and  is  in  fact  so  designated  in  official  com- 
munications by  the  shorter  title  of  "Commission  on  Economy 
and  Efficiency." 

At  the  close  of  the  session  of  1913,  an  appropriation  was 
made  by  the  legislature  for  the  continuance  of  the  work  of  the 
commission  and  subsequent  appropriations  have  enabled  the 
commission  to  continue  its  work.  A  clerk  to  the  commission 
and  a  stenographer  devote  a  portion  of  their  time  to  the  com- 
mission's work.  At  times  efficiency  engineers  have  been  em- 
ployed to  study  methods  and  practices  in  the  state  and  to 
make  recommendations  to  the  commission. 

Since  the  organization  of   the  commission   in    1912   the 
members  have  devoted  much  of  their  time  to  an  examination 
and  study  of  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  various  state  de- 
partments, boards,  commissions  and  officials,  and  charts  of 
1  Joint  Resolution  No.  6,  New  Jersey,  Acts,  1912,  p.  945-946. 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

organization  have  been  prepared  showing  graphically  the  pres- 
ent state  government  and  its  various  ramifications  and  setting 
forth  what  consolidations  can  be  effected.  For  a  time  a  sec- 
retary devoted  his  entire  time  to  the  collection  and  tabulation 
of  data  about  each  state  agency,  and  to  the  preparation  for 
the  members  of  the  commission  of  comparisons  between  the 
New  Jersey  and  other  state  governments.  The  commission 
also  keeps  in  touch  with  similar  organizations  in  other  states. 

In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  resolution  creating  it, 
the  commission  has  devoted  its  chief  attention  to  the  matter 
of  the  reorganization  of  the  administrative  services  of  the 
state.  Constitutionally,  New  Jersey  has  the  great  advantage 
of  an  administrative  system  of  the  integrated  type.  The 
benefits  of  this  system  had,  however,  in  large  part  been  lost 
by  the  creation  of  an  excessive  number  of  separate  agencies. 
"It  has  been  the  practice  in  this  state  to  organize  a  separate 
commission  for  each  new  phase  of  work.  It  has  been  carried 
to  such  an  extent  that  we  venture  to  say  that  if  in  the  opinion 
of  the  Legislature  it  was  advisable  to  have  a  state  park  in 
each  county,  instead  of  organizing  one  department  to  acquire 
the  land  and  to  develop  and  care  for  the  parks,  twenty-one 
commissions  would  be  organized,  twenty-one  secretaries  would 
be  secured  and  twenty-one  staffs  of  engineers  and  clerks  would 
be  employed."1 

The  commission  accordingly  applied  itself  to  the  task  of 
studying  each  of  these  bureaus,  boards  and  commissions  with 
a  view  to  determining  the  extent  to  which  they  could  be  con- 
solidated or  logically  grouped  in  departments. 

Early  in  1913,  it  submitted  a  report  to  the  legislature 
recommending:  (i)  the  consolidation  of  the  State  Board  of 
Assessors  and  the  Board  of  Equalization;  (2)  the  abolition  of 
the  separate  shell-fish  commissions  and  their  consolidation 
under  a  central  bureau  of  game  and  fisheries;  (3)  the  re- 
organization of  the  Department  of  Labor,  the  Bureau  of  Labor 
Statistics  and  the  Employees  Liability  Commission;  (4)  the 
consolidation  of  the  offices  of  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury 
and  the  Department  of  Accounts;  and  (5)  the  union  of  the 

1  Second  Report  of  the  Commission  upon  the  Reorganization  and 
Consolidation  of  Different  Departments  of  the  State  Government 
whose  Functions  are  Interrelated,  1914,  p.  13. 

116 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

Department  of  Inland  Waterways  and  the  New  Jersey  Canal 
Commission..  Following  these  recommendations  various  bills 
were  introduced,  but  only  one  was  enacted,  that  providing 
that  the  Department  of  Accounts  be  consolidated  with  the 
office  of  the  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury.  This  resulted  in 
greater  efficiency  and  an  audit  before,  instead  of  after,  the 
disbursement  of  state  moneys. 

In  1914,  the  commission  proposed  a  more  comprehensive 
plan  for  reconstructing  certain  branches  of  the  state  admin- 
istration. It  recommended  the  creation  of  seven  new  depart- 
ments, each  to  be  formed  by  the  reorganization  and  consolida- 
tion of  boards  and  commissions,  which  were  at  the  time  per- 
forming functions  of  a  similar  nature  largely  independent  of 
one  another.  The  new  departments  recommended  and  the 
estimated  annual  net  economies  to  be  effected  in  each  case  were 
as  follows :  Department  of  Health,  $24,224 ;  Department  of 
Shell  Fisheries,  $3,800;  Department  of  Taxation,  $40,500; 
Department  of  Conservation  and  Development,  $28,823.50; 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Navigation,  $10,800;  Depart- 
ment of  Prison  Control,  $22,663.59;  Board  of  Public  Utili- 
ties, $6,000.  The  total  net  annual  economies  to  be  effected 
by  the  adoption  of  these  recommendations  were  thus  estimated 
to  be  nearly  $147,000.  The  reorganization  of  the  Department 
of  Labor  was  also  recommended  in  a  special  report. 

These  recommendations  were  in  large  part  approved  by 
the  legislature. 

The  reorganization  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  the  con- 
solidation of  the  various  oyster  commissions,  the  consolidation 
of  the  State  Board  of  Taxation  and  the  State  Board  for  the 
Equalization  of  Taxes,  the  creation  of  the  Department  of  Con- 
servation and  Development,  superseding  the  Forest  Park  Res- 
ervation Commission,  the  Geological  Survey,  several  park 
commissions  and  the  State  Water  Supply  Commission  after 
July  i,  1916,  the  establishment  of  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Navigation,  which  takes  over  the  duties  of  the  for- 
mer Department  of  Inland  Waterways,  the  New  Jersey  Ship 
Canal  Commission,  the  Commission  on  Port  Conditions,  Ob- 
structions to  Navigation  and  Inspection  of  Power  Vessels,  the 
consolidation  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  with  the 

117 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Department  of  Labor — these  represent  in  part  the  work  of  this 
commission  during  the  past  year.1 

The  fourth  annual  report  of  the  commission  made  to  the 
General  Assembly,  in  1916,  dealt  with  the  State  Tenement 
House  Commission  and  the  concentration  of  purchases  for 
the  use  of  the  state  and  state  institutions.  With  regard  to 
the  Tenement  House  Commission  it  was  recommended  that 
the  cost  of  the  commission  to  the  state  "be  limited  to  those 
expenses  necessarily  incident  to  the  maintenance  of  the  re- 
quired organization,  viz.,  salaries  and  expenses  of  commis- 
sioners, secretary  and  clerks,  office  rent  and  the  like,  and  that 
the  balance  be  apportioned  among  the  municipalities  in  which 
the  commissioner's  work  is  done,  each  municipality  to  pay  that 
part  of  the  cost  of  the  field  work,  which  the  time  devoted  to 
it  bears  to  the  whole  time  spent  in  such  work." 

With  regard  to  the  concentration  of  purchases  the  com- 
mission recommended  the  establishment  of  a  purchasing  board 
to  consist  of  the  Governor,  the  state  treasurer  and  the  state 
comptroller,  the  board  to  employ  a  purchasing  agent,  and 
that  all  discretion  as  to  purchases  and  standardization  of 
supplies  should  be  vested  entirely  in  this  board.  At  the  time 
of  the  recommendation  the  purchasing  power  was  exercised 
generally  by  each  commission  or  department  or  institution  in- 
dependently, subject  only  to  the  terms  of  the  appropriation 
bill.  Drafts  of  bills  embodying  these  recommendations  were 
submitted  by  the  commission. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Message  of  the  Governor  transmitting  [first]  report  of  the  commis- 
sion to  consider  best  means  to  consolidate  state  agencies.     To 
the  Legislature — session  of  1913.     Trenton,  MacCrellish  &  Quig- 
ley,  state  printers,  1913.    31  p.    2  fold,  charts  (in  envelope). 
Recommendations. 

Consolidation  of  state  board  of  assessors  and  the  board  of 

equalization. 

Abolition  of  the  separate  shell  fish  commission,  and  consoli- 
dation under  a  central  bureau  of  game  and  fisheries. 
Combination  of  the  department  of  labor,  bureau  of  labor  sta- 
tistics and  employers  liability  commission. 

1  Fourth  Report  of  the  Commission  upon  the  Reorganization  and 
Consolidation  of  Different  Departments  of  the  State  Government 
whose  Functions  are  Interrelated  (The  Economy  and  Efficiency 
Commission),  1916.  p.  5. 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

Consolidation  of  the  offices  of  comptroller  of  the  treasury  and 
the  department  of  accounts. 

Union  of  the  department  of  inland  waterways  and  the  New 

Jersey  canal  commission. 

Message  of  James  F.  Fielder,  governor  of  New  Jersey,  transmitting 
to  the  Legislature  the  second  report  of  the  Commission  upon  the 
reorganization  and  consolidation  of  different  departments  of  the 
state  government  whose  functions  are  interrelated.  Feb.  16,  1914. 
Trenton,  1914.  94  p.  tables  (part.  fold.). 
Contents. 

Introduction. 

State  board  of  health. 

Department  of  shell  fisheries. 

Department  of  taxation. 

Department  of  conservation  and  development. 

Department  of  commerce  and  navigation. 

The  state  prison. 

Department  of  labor. 

Third  report  of  the  Economy  and  efficiency  commission  (commission 
upon  the  reorganization  and  consolidation  of  different  depart- 
ments of  the  state  government  whose  functions  are  interrelated.) 
Likewise  incorporating  as  a  supplemental  report  a  report  of 
Price,  Waterhouse  &  co.,  expert  chartered  accountants,  as  sus- 
taining the  Economy  and  efficiency  commission  in  a  survey  of 
specific  conclusions  and  recommendations.  Trenton,  1915.  15  p. 
Contents. 

Report  of  the  Commission. 

Report  on  proposed  department  of  conservation  and  develop- 
ment, by  Price,  Waterhouse  &  co. 

Fourth  report  of  the  Commission  upon  the  reorganization  and  con- 
solidation of  the  different  departments  of  the  state  government 
(the  Efficiency  and  economy  commission)  to  the  Governor  and 
Legislature  of  the  state  of  New  Jersey.  January  4,  1916.  Tren- 
ton, 1916.  26  p.  fold,  chart. 
Contents. 

Recommendation  concerning  enforcement  of  tenement   house 
act. 

Concentration  of  purchases. 

ARTICLES 

Hanford,  C.  A.  The  New  Jersey  Economy  and  efficiency  commis- 
sion. (In  Illinois.  General  assembly.  Efficiency  and  economy 
committee.  Report.  Chicago,  1915.  p.  981-85.) 

Massachusetts:  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency. 

The  Massachusetts  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency 
was  created  by  an  act  of  the  legislature  approved  June  6, 
I9I2.1  Prior  to  this  the  Governor,  at  his  request,  had  been 
authorized  by  the  legislature  to  investigate  the  organization 

1  Massachusetts,  Acts,  1912,  p.  800. 

119 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

and  work  of  the  administrative  departments  and  services  in 
order  that  he  might  more  intelligently  prepare  the  budget 
which  he  was  directed  to  submit  to  the  legislature,  and  for 
this  purpose  temporarily  to  employ  public  accountants,  engi- 
neers and  other  investigators.  This  provision  did  not  give 
the  results  that  were  expected  of  it,  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
work  of  investigation  was  not  carried  on  in  a  sufficiently 
systematic  and  continuous  manner.  To  correct  these  defects 
the  legislature  in  1912  repealed  the  act  under  which  the  Gov- 
ernor was  acting  and  provided  for  the  creation  of  the  Com- 
mission on  Economy  and  Efficiency  which  has  been  mentioned. 

This  commission  was  reorganized  by  act  of  June  25,  1915. 
By  that  statute  it  was  provided  that  the  commission  should 
consist  of  three  members  appointed  by  the  Governor  with  the 
consent  of  the  Council,  a  chairman  holding  office  at  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  Governor  and  receiving  a  salary  of  $5,000  per 
annum,  and  two  members  holding  office  for  a  term  of  three 
years  and  receiving  a  salary  each  of  $4,500  per  annum.  The 
commission  was  empowered  to  employ  expert  and  clerical 
assistance,  and  appropriations  were  made  for  its  support. 

This  commission  was  directed : 

To  inquire  into  the  laws  governing  the  financial  trans- 
actions of  the  Commonwalth  and  to  study  into  the  possibility 
of  promoting  greater  economy  and  efficiency  and  utility  in 
the  transaction  of  the  business  of  the  Commonwealth  by  any 
changes  in  such  laws,  by  the  reorganization,  consolidation  or 
coordination  of  departments  and  institutions,  by  different 
methods. of  administration,  by  classification  of  employees,  by 
fixing  maximum  and  minimum  salaries,  by  standardizing  vaca- 
tions, by  organizing  a  central  purchasing  agency  or  depart- 
ment, by  the  substitution  of  the  budget  method  of  appropriat- 
ing money  or  by  any  other  means,  and  it  shall  report  thereon 
from  time  to  time  to  the  Governor  and  Council  and  to  the 
General  Court,  if  it  is  in  session. 

The  commission  thus  established  was  of  a  somewhat  differ- 
ent character  from  the  commissions  similarly  designated 
created  by  other  states,  in  that,  in  addition  to  being  given  the 
general  duty  of  investigating  the  organization  and  methods 
of  business  of  the  administrative  services  of  the  government,  it 

120 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

was  made  an  operating  department  with  specific  duties  with 
reference  to  the  preparation  and  submission  of  estimates.  It 
thus  provided  that  the  auditor  should  continue  to  make  his 
compilation  of  the  estimates  of  the  departments,  but  that,  in 
addition  to  furnishing  the  Governor  with  a  copy  of  such 
compilation,  he  should  also  furnish  to  the  commission  a  copy, 
and  that  the  latter  body : 

Shall  examine  the  statements  submitted  to  it  by  the  Audi- 
tor, showing  the  general  and  special  appropriations  asked  for 
by  those  in  charge  of  the  various  departments,  institutions, 
boards  and  undertakings  mentioned  in  sections  three  and  four, 
and  shall  report  thereon  to  the  General  Court  annually  on  or 
before  the  first  Thursday  in  January,  and  at  such  other  times 
as  it  may  see  fit,  together  with  such  facts,  suggestions  or  rec- 
ommendations as  to  any  or  all  of  the  appropriations  requested 
or  the  methods  of  raising  money  for  the  same  as  it  may  deem 
expedient. 

It  will  be  noted  that  by  the  foregoing  the  Commission  or 
Economy  and  Efficiency  was  directed  to  make  its  recommen- 
dations direct  to  the  legislature  and  not  to  the  Governor. 
Furthermore,  the  provision  of  law  directing  that  the  Governor 
should  make  recommendations  regarding  estimates  was  re- 
pealed. Though  the  act  thus  made  a  distinct  advance  in 
providing  for  a  budgetary  organ,  it  made  this  organ  an  agent 
of  the  legislature  rather  than  of  the  Executive,  and  thus  was 
in  no  sense  a  movement  towards  an  executive  budget. 

That  the  legislature  was  not  of  the  opinion  that,  in  making 
provision  for  this  body,  it  had  solved  the  budgetary  problem, 
is  evident  from  the  fact  that  this  body  was  specifically  in- 
structed by  the  act  to  investigate  and  report  regarding  the 
steps  that  would  be  required  to  put  the  administration  of  the 
government  upon  a  budgetary  basis. 

The  commission  was  also  empowered  to  make  investi- 
gations as  to  the  financial  administration  of  state  services  or 
state-aided  institutions,  and  was  required  so  to  do  when  re- 
quested by  the  Governor,  or  either  branch  of  the  legislature 
or  by  the  committee  on  finance  of  the  Governor's  Council. 

The  commission  was  given  the  usual  powers  to  compel  tes- 

121 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

timony  and  the  production  of  papers  and  was  required  to  make 
an  annual  administrative  report. 

On  June  i,  1916,  the  legislature  passed  an  act  abolishing 
the  commission  and  creating  in  its  place  the  office  of  Super- 
visor of  Administration.1  Practically  all  of  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  commission  were  transferred  to  its  successor,  the 
Supervisor  of  Administration,  but  in  addition  he  was  vested 
with  certain  administrative  functions  which  make  it  proper  to 
regard  his  office  as  an  organ  of  central  administrative  control 
rather  than  as  a  research  agency.  Account  of  that  office  is, 
therefore,  reserved  for  the  second  part  of  this  volume.2 
Here  we  will  confine  ourselves  to  a  brief  characterization  of 
the  work  of  the  commission. 

The  first  important  task  of  the  commission  was  to  under- 
take a  thorough  investigation  into  the  organization,  methods 
of  operation  and  activities  of  the  various  services  of  the  state. 

On  February  7,  1914,  the  commission  submitted  a  report 
of  some  fifty  pages  on  the  " Reorganization  of  Boards  and 
Commissions  Having  Supervision  and  Control  of  State  In- 
stitutions," in  which  a  centralization  and  unification  of  con- 
trol is  advocated ;  and  in  November  of  the  same  year,  a  report 
of  more  than  five  hundred  pages  dealing  descriptively  with 
"The  Functions,  Organization  and  Administration  of  the  De- 
partments in  the  Executive  Branch  of  the  State  Government." 

The  annual  reports  of  the  commission,  besides  giving  in- 
formation regarding  the  work  of  the  commission  in  general, 
present  the  results  of  a  large  number  of  special  investigations. 
In  addition,  the  commission  submitted  a  considerable  number 
of  special  reports.  The  character  of  these  reports  can  be  seen 
from  the  appended  list  of  the  published  reports  of  the  com- 
mission. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Annual  report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency.  [No- 
vember 21,  1912,  to]  December  31,  1912.  Boston,  Wright  and 
Potter  Printing  Co.,  state  printers,  1913.  9  p.  (Public  Doc. 
No.  96.) 

1An  Act  to  Abolish  the  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency 
and  the  State  Board  of  Publications  and  to  Establish  the  Office  of 
Supervisor  of  Administration.  Approved  June  I,  1916.  Act  of  1916, 
Ch.  296. 

a  See  p.  291  ff. 

122 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

Annual  report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  for  the 
year  ending  December  31,  1913.     Boston,  1914.     145  p.     (Public 
Doc.  No.  96.) 
Contents. 

Salaries  of  state  officials  and  employees. 

Educational  matters. 

Care  of  public  records. 

Ballot  law  commission. 

Labor. 

Fisheries  and  game. 

Forestry  and  moth  suppression. 

Business  administration  in  county  institutions. 

Pending  investigation  and  recommendations. 
Annual   report   of   the   Commission   on   economy   and   efficiency   for 

1914.  Boston,  1915.    319  p.  fold,  tables.     (Public  Doc.  No.  96.) 
Contents. 

Summary  of  work  performed  during  the  year. 

Report  on  reorganization  of  boards  and  commissions  having 
supervision  and  control  of  "state  institutions. 

Report  on  functions,  organization  and  administration  of  the 
departments  in  the  executive  branch  of  the  state  gov- 
ernment. 

Salaries  of  state  officials  and  employees. 

Vacation  allowances. 

Appropriations  and  state  revenue. 

Conversion  of  state  sinking  fund  bond  into  serial  bonds. 

Report  on  the  expenditure  and  accounts  of  the  Board  of  regis- 
tration in  dentistry. 

Report  on  expense  accounts  of  officials  and  employees  in  the 
service  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Report  on  bills  for  services  and  expenses  of  space  expert  em- 
ployed in  the  State  House  building  commission. 

Report  on  state  armory  loans  and  on  Armory  commission's  ad- 
ministration of  its  finances. 

Report  on  the  business  administration  of  the  state  militia. 

Published  records  of  the  Massachusetts  militia  who  served 
in  the  War  of  1812-14. 

Report  on  alleged  selling  methods  used  by  the  Massachusetts 
Commission  for  the  blind. 

Report  on  number  of  alien  immigrants  admitted  to  state  in- 
stitutions within  three  years  of  their  entrance  into  the 
United  States. 

Report   on  administration  of  state  normal   schools. 

Appendix  A.  Acts  establishing  and  reorganizing  the  Com- 
mission on  economy  and  efficiency. 

Appendix  B.     List  of  state  officials  and  employees  whose  sal- 
aries are  fixed  by  statute,  are  subject  to  approval  of  Gov- 
ernor and  Council,  or  are  specified  in  appropriation  acts. 
Annual  report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency   [for] 

1915.  Boston,  1916.    304  p.     (Public  Doc.  No.  96.) 
Contents. 

Summary  of  work  performed  during  the  year. 
Appropriations:    Reports  [on  various  House  and  Senate  bills]. 

I23 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Report  on  non-registered  physicians  employed  at  state  insti- 
tutions. 

Report  on  the  shoe  industry  at  the  Massachusetts  reformatory. 
Report  on  the  work  and  administration  of  the  Department  of 

the  State  forester. 

Organization,  salaries  and  leaves  of  absence. 

Reorganization  of  boards  and  commissions  having  supervision  and 
control  of  state  institutions.  Report  submitted  by  Commission  on 
economy  and  efficiency.    Feb.  7,  1914.    Boston,  1914.    63  p.    fold, 
tab.     (House.    Doc.  No.  2137.) 
Contents. 

Plan  I.  Centralized  control  under  a  board  of  five  commission- 
ers empowered  to  vest  in  one  director  the  duties  of  admin- 
istration. 

Plan  II.  Supervision  and  control  by  a  Board  of  five  com- 
missioners ;  to  give  all  their  time  to  the  duties  of  their  offices, 
and  to  be  chosen  with  particular  reference  to  the  several 
different  problems  involved  from  an  administrative  and  cor- 
rectional standpoint. 

[Report  of  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency]  Argument  sub- 
mitted by  the  chairman  of  the  Commission  to  the  joint  commit- 
tees of  Ways  and  means  and  Public  institutions  [relative  to 
the  work  of  the  Commission  and  its  recommendations  for  re- 
organization of  boards  and  commissions  having  supervision  and 
control  of  state  institutions].  April  15,  1914.  35  p.  (House. 
Doc.  No.  2473.) 

This  report  supplements  House   Doc.   No.  2137. 
Functions,  organization  and  administration  of  the  departments  in  the 
executive   branch   of   the   state   government.      Prepared   by   the 
Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency.     November   [25],  1914. 
Boston,  1914.    513  p.    fold,  chart. 
Contents. 

Definition  of  terms. 

Summary  of  the  present  organization  of  the  executive  branch 

of  the  state  government,  with  chart. 
Central  control  and  supervision  of  state  departments. 
Types  of  departmental  organization  and  methods  of  administration. 
Departments  engaged  in  work  of  a  similar  character  or  hav- 
ing a  similar  object. 
Detailed   description   of   the    functions,   organization,   etc.,   of 

each  state  department,  board,  commission  and  institution. 
City  officials  and  other  non-state  officials  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor. 

State  aided  institutions  and  organizations. 
Appendix.     Geographical  location  of  state  offices,  institutions, 

armories,  stations,  etc. 

Report  on  proposed  conversion  of  state  sinking  fund  bonds  by  issue 
of  serial  bonds.  Submitted  to  the  General  court  ...  by  the 
Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency,  Jan.  15,  1915.  Boston, 
1915.  24  p.  (House.  Doc.  No.  1650.) 

Documents  and  papers  submitted  by  the  Massachusetts  Commission 
on  economy  and  efficiency  to  the  Honorable  Senate  and  House 
of  representatives  of  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  in 

124 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

General    court   assembled.      February    15,    1915.      Boston,    1915. 
64  p.     (House.  Doc.  No.  1751.) 
Contents. 

Report  on  the  action  taken  by  the  Department  of  animal  in- 
dustry to  extirpate  the  foot-and-mouth  disease  in  Massa- 
chusetts submitted  to  his  excellency  the  Governor  and  the 
Honorable  Council  by  the  Commission  on  economy  and  effi- 
ciency, Dec.  23,  1914. 

Transcript  of  notes  taken  at  the  hearing  given  by  the  Com- 
mission on  economy  and  efficiency  to  Mr.  Fred  L.  Walker, 
Commissioner  of  animal  industry,  at  Room  no,  State  House, 
Boston,  on  Monday,  December  14,  1914,  at  2:30  P.  M. 
Miscellaneous  letters,  etc. 

Laws  relating  to  contagious  diseases  of  domestic  animals. 
Report  on  the  work  and  administration  of   the   Board  of   commis- 
sioners on  fisheries  and  game,  submitted  to  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil and  General  court  by  the  Commission  on  economy  and  effi- 
ciency.   April   26,    1915.     Boston,    1915.     58   p.     (House.    Doc. 
No.  2133.) 
Contents. 

Letter  of  transmittal,  with  summary  of  recommendations. 
Description  of  work,  finances  and  organization. 
Criticisms  and  recommendations. 
Appendices. 

Report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  concerning  the 
standardization  of  grades  and  compensation  in  the  civil  engi- 
neering service  of  the  Commonwealth  as  proposed  in  House 
bill  No.  349  of  1915.  January  12,  1916.  Boston,  1916.  28  p. 
(House.  Doc.  No.  1673.) 

Report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  relative  to  the 
hours  of  labor  of  public  employees  and  to  Saturday  half  holidays. 
Jan.  12,  1916.  Boston,  1916.  58  p.  (House.  Doc.  No.  1672.) 
Report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  on  statements 
submitted  to  it  by  the  State  auditor.  Jan.  6,  1916.  3  p.  (House. 
Doc.  No.  ii.) 

Report  on  the  administration  of  state  revenues  and  loans,  submitted 
to  the  Governor  and  Council  and  General  court  by  the  Commis- 
sion on  economy  and  efficiency.  April  29,  1916.  Boston,  1916. 
102  p.  (House.  Doc.  No.  2225.) 

Special  report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  relative 

to  state  printing.     May  i,  1916.     23  p.     (House.  Doc.  No.  2175.) 

Report  on  budget  procedure,   submitting  to  the   Governor,   Council, 

and  General  court  by  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency. 

May  27,  1916.     Boston,  1916.     32  p.     (House.  Doc.  No.  2288.) 

[Report  on  appropriations  asked  for  by  those  in  charge  of  the  various 

departments,  institutions,  boards,  and  undertakings  for  the  year 

1915.]     Jan.  7,  1915.     2  p.     (House.  Doc.  No.  53.) 

-  Same  [for  1916].    Jan.  6,  1916.    3  p.  (House.  Doc.  No.  n.) 

ARTICLES 

Hanford,  A.  C.  The  Massachusetts  commission  of  economy  and 
efficiency.  (In  Illinois.  General  assembly.  Efficiency  and  econ- 
omy committee.  Report.  Chicago.  1915,  p.  975-81.) 

125 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

New  York:  Committee  of  Inquiry  to  Investigate  the  Ad- 
ministration of  the  State  Government.  Early  in  1913  Gov- 
ernor Sulzer  of  New  York,  in  the  exercise  of  his  general  ex- 
ecutive authority,  appointed  three  citizens  as  a  Committee  of 
Inquiry  to  make  an  investigation  into  the  expenditures  of  the 
state.  On  March  21  of  the  same  year  the  committee  sub- 
mitted a  report  to  the  Governor,  analyzing  the  appropriations 
of  the  state  for  the  current  year  as  well  as  the  estimates  for 
the  ensuing  year  and  suggesting  the  reduction  of  certain  esti- 
mates. 

In  its  investigation  of  the  financial  administration  of  the 
various  departments  and  commissions,  information  was 
secured  as  to  their  respective  appropriations  for  the  current 
year,  the  amounts  required  for  the  ensuing  year,  and  a  state- 
ment of  any  increases  or  decreases  in  the  same.  From  these 
data  the  committee  presented  a  report  containing:  (i)  its 
findings  and  recommendations  in  regard  to  each  separate  de- 
partment, with  particular  attention  to  the  demands  for  in- 
creased appropriations,  and  (2)  a  revision  of  the  estimates 
for  which  appropriations  were  requested.  Also  a  new  appro- 
priation and  supply  bill  for  the  entire  state  was  prepared,  set- 
ting forth  the  items  recommended  by  the  Committee  of  In- 
quiry and  involving  a  new  reduction  of  $772,000  as  compared 
with  the  actual  appropriations  of  the  preceding  year. 

The  Committee  of  Inquiry  also  made  an  analysis  of  the 
financial  methods  employed  by  the  various  state  agencies,  in 
order  to  devise  means  for  securing  economy  and  efficiency  in 
the  public  service.  As  a  result  of  this  general  study  of  state 
administration,  the  committee  found  that  the  business  methods 
of  the  state  were  not  efficient,  and  that  there  was  immediate 
need  for  a  complete  change  in  the  existing  system  of  making 
appropriations  and  in  the  administrative  machinery  for  con- 
trolling and  safeguarding  the  expenditure  of  such  appropri- 
ations after  they  have  been  made.  With  this  end  in  view,  the 
Committee  of  Inquiry  recommended:  (i)  that  the  fiscal  year 
be  altered  so  as  to  correspond  more  closely  to  the  legislative 
session;  (2)  that  general  appropriations  be  made  available 
only  during  the  year  for  which  they  are  made;  (3)  that  all 
unexpended  balances  lapse  at  the  close  of  each  year;  (4)  that 

126 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

it  should  be  unlawful  for  departmental  officers  to  incur  liabili- 
ties in  excess  pf  appropriations,  and  that  they  should  not  be 
empowered  to  make  such  expenditures;  and  (5)  that  supply 
bills  should  be  discontinued. 

These  various  recommendations  made  by  the  Committee 
of  Inquiry  to  the  Governor  were  transmitted  to  the  legislature, 
but  nothing  definite  was  accomplished  in  the  way  of  con- 
structive legislation  for  carrying  the  same  into  effect. 

Finally  the  committee  made  three  general  recommen- 
dations :  that  a  state  board  of  estimates  be  created,  composed 
of  state  officials,  to  have  the  duty  of  formulating  appropri- 
ation bills;  that  provision  be  made  for  a  commissioner  of 
economy  and  efficiency,  who  should  have  the  duty  of  making 
investigation  of  administrative  services  and  recommending 
action  to  be  taken  to  put  this  management  upon  a  more  effi- 
cient basis;  and  that  the  system  of  making  appropriations  be 
changed  in  certain  respects. 

The  first  two  of  these  recommendations  were  accepted  by 
the  legislature.  By  acts  passed  in  1913  provision  was  made 
for  a  State  Board  of  Estimates  and  a  Department  of  Econ- 
omy and  Efficiency,  with  the  provision  that  the  head  of 
the  latter  should  be  secretary  of  the  former.1  The  work  of 
this  latter  department  will  be  considered  in  the  following  sec- 
tion. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  inquiry  to  Governor  Sulzer  .  .  .  Trans- 
mitted to  the  Legislature  March  24,  1913.    Albany,  J.  B.  Lyon 
Company,  printers,   1913.     7,   119  p.     fold,  tables. 
Contents. 

Message  from  the  Governor  transmitting  report. 
Report. 

Business  methods  of  the  state  and  its  system  of  finance. 

Unexpended  balances. 

Printing. 

Stationery  and  office  supplies. 

Sinking  fund. 

Canal  claims  and  board  of  claims. 

Statement    of    appropriations    recommended    by    Committee 

of  inquiry. 

Departments,  commissions  and  bureaus  of  the  state. 
State  institutions  and  special  bills  and  appropriations  con- 
nected therewith. 
Legislation  recommended. 

1  New  York,  Acts,  1913,  Ch.  280  and  281. 

127 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Appendices  of  Hon.  John  T.  Norton,  counsel  to  Committee  of 
inquiry,  upon  sinking  funds. 

An  act  to  ...  create  a  department  of  efficiency  and  econ- 
omy, etc. 

An  act  to  establish  a  state  board  of  estimate,  etc. 

An  act  to  establish  a  state  board  of  contract  and  supply,  etc. 

ARTICLES 

Hanford,  C.  A.  The  New  York  Committee  of  inquiry  and  Depart- 
ment of  efficiency  and  economy.  (In  Illinois.  General  assembly. 
Efficiency  and  economy  committee.  Report.  Chicago,  1915.  p. 
985-880 

New  York:  Department  of  Efficiency  and  Economy.  As 
has  been  pointed  out  in  the  preceding  section,  the  legislature  of 
New  York,  acting  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Committee 
of  Inquiry,  passed  an  act  providing  for  the  creation  of  a 
Department  of  Efficiency  and  Economy,  which  it  was  intended 
should  be  a  permanent  feature  of  the  administrative  system  of 
the  state.1 

This  act  provided  for  a  Department  of  Efficiency  and 
Economy  at  the  head  of  which  should  be  a  "Commissioner  of 
Efficiency  and  Economy."  At  the  time  it  was  in  full  operation 
the  department  consisted  of  the  office  of  the  commissioner,  a 
secretarial  division,  an  accounting  division  and  a  legal  division, 
all  of  which  were  included  under  the  general  administration. 
In  addition  there  was  an  advisory  board,  a  bureau  of  finance 
and  budget,  a  bureau  of  curative,  charitable  and  penal  insti- 
tutions, a  bureau  of  public  works  department,  and  a  bureau 
of  miscellaneous  departments  comprising  a  miscellaneous 
division,  an  -education  division  and  a  printing  division. 

The  duties  of  the  department  were  stated  in  the  following 
terms : 

"The  Commissioner  of  efficiency  and  economy  shall  make 
a  careful  and  thorough  study  of  each  office,  institution  and 
department  maintained  by  the  state  and  shall  from  time  to 
time  make  recommendations  to  the  governor  and  to  the  officer, 
board  or  commission  in  charge  of  said  office,  institution  or  de- 
partment touching  the  efficiency  and  economy  of  the  work, 
business  and  service  therein.  He  is  hereby  empowered,  and 
it  shall  be  his  duty  to  examine  the  accounts,  and  the  methods 

1  New  York,  Acts,  1913,  Ch.  280. 

128 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

of  business,  accounting  and  administration  of  the  several 
offices,  institutions  and  departments  supported  by  the  state, 
for  the  conduct  and  maintenance  of  which  any  appropriation 
of  moneys  is  made  by  law." 

The  act  further  provided  that  the  commissioner  should 
have  power  to  compel  testimony  and  production  of  papers, 
that  all  officers  of  administrative  services  and  state  institutions 
should  annually  submit  to  him,  on  forms  prescribed  by  him, 
detailed  statements  of  their  estimates  for  appropriations  and 
that  the  commissioner  should  examine  said  statement  and 
make  such  recommendations  thereon  as,  in  his  opinion,  would 
contribute  to  promote  efficiency  and  economy  in  the  conduct 
of  the  business  of  the  state.  fc 

The  Department  of  Efficiency  and  Enonomy  upon  its  or- 
ganization as  a  department  devoted  its  first  attention  to  the 
matter  of  state  appropriations  and  expenditures,  and  on  March 
1 6,  1914,  the  commissioner  submitted  a  comprehensive  budget 
report  of  1035  pages  to  the  Governor,  setting  forth  his  recom- 
mendations in  regard  to  the  financial  needs  of  the  state  for 
the  fiscal  year  beginning  October  i,  1914.  The  items  of  ap- 
propriation recommended  in  this  report  were  determined  after 
a  careful  examination  of  the  requests  for  appropriations  as 
filed  by  the  various  department  officers,  and  every  item  was 
presented  in  comparison  with  the  amounts  appropriated  the 
previous  year,  thus  bringing  into  relief  each  new  position  in 
the  state  service,  every  increase  in  salary  and  every  proposed 
addition  to  miscellaneous  expense.  With  these  data  as  a 
basis,  the  commissioner  of  efficiency  and  economy  prepared  a 
completely  segregated  form  of  appropriation  bill  or  budget, 
presenting  all  positions  under  their  proper  departmental  titles, 
and  subdividing  every  large  item  of  miscellaneous  expense 
into  smaller  units  so  as  to  prevent  the  concealment  of  unneces- 
sary positions  and  expense  accounts  under  the  heading  of 
office  expense  and  other  deceptive  titles.  Nearly  every  estimate 
submitted  by  the  heads  of  departments  was  revised  and  ma- 
terially decreased,  and  the  amounts  recommended  by  the  com- 
missioner of  efficiency  and  economy  were  set  forth  in  itemized 
form  and  in  parallel  columns  alongside  of  the  appropriation 
requests  submitted  by  the  departmental  heads  in  the  usual 

129 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

unitemized  form,  while  the  whole  report  was  supplemented  by 
explanatory  notes  from  the  departments  concerned  and  from 
the  commissioner  of  efficiency  and  economy.  The  amount  of 
appropriation  recommended  by  the  commissioner  was  about 
one-seventh  less  than  that  recommended  by  the  departmental 
heads. 

This  report  was  transmitted  to  the  legislature  January  21, 
1915.  It,  however,  received  no  serious  attention  at  the  hands 
of  that  body  and  the  annual  appropriation  act  was  passed  in 
the  usual  form. 

Under  date  of  January  i,  1915,  the  department  in  co- 
operation with  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 
published  a  detailed  report  of  768  pages  on  the  organization 
and  functions  of  the  government  of  the  state  of  New  York, 
prepared  for  the  use  of  the  constitutional  convention  held  in 
1915.  This  report  was  descriptive  and  was  accompanied  by 
a  large  number  of  charts  of  organization  and  other  data.  It 
was  also  published  as  one  of  the  series  of  reports  of  the  New 
York  State  Constitutional  Convention  Commission. 

Under  date  of  January  21,  1915,  the  commissioner  of  effi- 
ciency and  economy  transmitted  a  report  of  445  pages  giving 
the  result  of  an  investigation  of  the  cost  of  providing  text 
books  for  the  schools  of  the  state,  including  both  those  sup- 
ported by  the  state  and  those  supported  by  the  several  cities, 
towns,  villages-  and  school  districts. 

An  annual  report  of  1,019  pages  submitted  by  the  com- 
missioner gave  the  results  of  an  investigation  of  state  hos- 
pitals for  the  insane,  state  prisons  and  state  reformatory  and 
correctional  institutions  and  recommendations  relative  to  the 
improvement  of  the  efficiency  of  their  administration. 

Under  date  of  February  i,  1915,  the  department  trans- 
mitted an  annual  report  of  385  pages  relating  to  the  construc- 
tion and  maintenance  of  public  highways  and  the  administra- 
tion of  the  State  Highway  Department,  with  recommendations 
as  to  statutory  amendments.  The  investigations  of  the  de- 
partment and  the  numerous  suggestions  that  were  transmitted 
from  time  to  time  provided  the  commissioner  of  highways 
with  information  about  organization  and  methods  which  re- 
sulted in  better  discipline  and  better  quality  of  work. 

Notwithstanding  the  activity  of  this  department,  its  work 

130 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

did  not  seem  to  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  legislature  and 
it  was  abolished  in  191 5. *  The  reason  for  this  action  was 
undoubtedly  in  part  due  to  political  considerations. 

PUBLICATIONS 

State  budget  report  by  Department  of  efficiency  and  economy.  Ap- 
propriations recommended  for  fiscal  year  beginning  October  I, 
1914.  Explanatory  notes  by  heads  of  departments,  critical  notes 
and  analytical  tables  by  Department  of  efficiency  and  economy. 
Transmitted  to  the  Governor,  March  16,  1914.  [Albany,  1914.] 
VII,  262  p. 

Budget  report  of  the  New  York  Department  of  efficiency  and  econ- 
omy concerning  appropriations  requested  by  the  state  depart- 
ments, institutions,  boards  and  commissions.  Transmitted  to  the 
Legislature  January  21,  1915.  Albany,  1915.  XXXVI,  995  p. 
incl.  tables.  [Annual  report,  1914,  v.  I.] 

Government  of  the  state  of  New  Yorjc.  A  description  of  its  organi- 
zation and  functions.  Prepared  for  the  New  York  State  con- 
stitutional convention  commission  by  the  New  York  State  de- 
partment of  efficiency  and  economy  and  New  York  Bureau  of 
municipal  research.  January  i,  1915.  Albany,  1915.  XXXII, 
768  p.  diagrs.  (part,  fold.)  [Annual  report,  1914,  v.  2.] 
Report  of  investigation  of  the  cost  of  providing  free  text-books  in 
the  public  schools  of  the  state  of  New  York,  by  the  State  depart- 
ment of  efficiency  and  economy.  1914.  Albany,  1915.  445  p. 
incl.  map.  [Annual  report,  1914,  v.  3.] 
Partial  Contents. 

Bibliography  of  the  school  text-book  question. 
Digest  of  the  text-book  laws  of  the  states  of  the  Union. 
Annual  report  of  the  New  York  Department  of  efficiency  and  econ- 
omy concerning  investigations  of  accounting,  administration  and 
construction  of  state  hospitals  for  the  insane,  state  prisons  and 
state  reformatory  and  correctional  institutions.     Transmitted  to 
the   legislature   February    I,    1915.     Albany,    1915.     XXII,   993 
p.  plates,  fold,  diagrs.     [Annual  report,  1914,  v.  4.] 
Contents. 
Introduction. 

Review  of  examinations  of  accounting  methods  in  state  hos- 
pitals for  the  insane,  by  Wood  Drake  Loudoun.    p.  1-28. 
Detailed  reports  of  investigations  of  state  hospitals   for  the 

insane,  by  the  staff  of  the  Department,     p.  29-294. 
Organization  and  administration  of  state  hospitals  for  the  in- 
sane, by  M.  E.  McCalmont.     p.  401-612. 
Problems  of  construction  of  buildings  for  the  state  hospitals 

for  the  insane,  by  Albert  L.  Brockway.     p.  613-665. 
Examination  of  state  prisons  and  correctional  institutions,  by 

Charles  H.  Jackson,    p.  697-682. 
State  charitable  institutions,     p.  983-993. 

Annual  report  of  the  New  York  Department  of  efficiency  and  econ- 
omy concerning  matters  relating  to  the  construction  and  main- 

1  New  York,  Acts,  1915,  Ch.  17. 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

tenance    of   public   highways.      Transmitted    to   the    Legislature 
February  I,  1915.     Albany,   1915.     XVIII,  365  p.     plates,   fold, 
diagrs.     [Annual  report,  1914,  v.  5.] 
Contents. 

Pt.  I.     Report  of  Advisory  board  of  New  York  Department 
of  efficiency  and  economy  by  Arthur  H.  Blanchard. 
Apportionment  of  state  funds  for  construction  of  highways. 
Financing  the  maintenance  of  the  public  highways. 
Organization  of  the  New  York  State  highway  department. 
Preliminary   investigations    to    determine    suitable    types    of 

highways. 
Specifications  under  which  New  York  highways  have  been 

constructed. 

Complete    and    accurate    surveys    required    for    correct    de- 
signing. 

Comprehensive  advertisements  necessary  to  secure  competi- 
tion in  bidding. 

Defective  contracts  principal  cause  of  poor  construction. 
Maintenance   contracts   inadequate   in   regard   to  work   and 

materials. 

Reorganization  of  Bureau  of  tests  necessary  to  secure  effi- 
ciency. 

Revision  of  traffic  regulations  to  protect  state  highways. 
Valuable  data   for  highway  commission  in  other  state  de- 
partments. 

Protection  of  sources  of  trap  rock  supply. 
Pt.  II.     Review  of  the  work  of  the  Department  of  efficiency 
and  economy  in  relation  to  public  highways,  by  the  Com- 
missioner of  efficiency  and  economy. 

The  constitution  and  government  of  the  state  of  New  York :  an  ap- 
praisal. Transmitted  to  the  New  York  state  constitutional  con- 
vention by  the  New  York  state  constitutional  convention  com- 
mission. Prepared  ...  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research 
and  the  New  York  state  department  of  efficiency  and  economy. 
[Albany]  Bureau  of  municipal  research,  1915.  XII,  250  p.  incl. 
diagrs. 
Contents. 

Introduction  and  summary. 

Standards    for   the   appraisement   of   the   present   constitution 

and  government. 
The  electorate. 
The  official  personnel. 

The  structure  of  government  and  the  powers,  duties  and  limi- 
tations of  officers. 

Organization  and  procedure  of  the  Legislature. 
Constitutional  provisions  defining  the  relations  of  Legislature 

and  Executive. 
The  independent  auditor. 
The  governor  and  the  administration. 
Organization  for  the  administration  of  the  states'  proprietary 

and  other  general  functions. 

Organization  for  the  administration  of  military   functions  of 
Ahe  state  government. 

I32 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

Organization  for  the  administration  of  public  service  functions. 
The  content  and  form  of  the  Constitution. 

ARTICLES 

Hanford,  A.  C.  The  New  York  Committee  of  inquiry  and  Depart- 
ment of  efficiency  and  economy.  (In  Illinois.  General  assembly. 
Efficiency  and  economy  committee.  Report.  Chicago,  1915.  p. 

985-88.)  ' 

Pennsylvania:  Economy  and  Efficiency  Commission.    By 

a  joint  resolution,  approved  July  25,  1913,  the  legislature  of 
Pennsylvania  provided  for  the  creation  of  a  body  to  be  known 
as  the  Economy  and  Efficiency  Commission  which  should  have 
the  duty  "to  investigate  the  number,  character  of  duties  and 
compensation  of  all  persons  in  the  employ  of  the  State;  and 
to  ascertain  and  recommend  what  changes,  if  any,  may  be 
necessary  to  secure  greater  uniformity,  economy  and  effi- 
ciency in  the  work  of  the  various  departments,  branches,, 
bureaus,  and  commissions  of  the  government."  The  reso- 
lution provided  that  the  commission  should  be  composed  of 
three  persons  "well  versed  in  business  and  governmental 
affairs  and  in  systems  of  economy  and  efficiency  in  adminis- 
tration," to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  to  receive  a  com- 
pensation of  $3,000;  and  that  this  commission  should  make  its 
report  not  later  than  November  i,  1914,  when  it  should  become 
functus  officio.  An  appropriation  of  $25,000  was  made  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  commission,  which  amount,  how- 
ever, was  reduced  by  the  Governor  to  $10,000. 

This  commission  made  its  report  under  date  of  December 
24,  1914.  It  is  devoted  to  an  enumeration  and  description 
of  the  administrative  services  and  institutions  of  the  state 
with  recommendations  of  action  that  should  be  taken  in  ref- 
erence to  each  to  make  the  organization  and  work  more  effi- 
cient. 

By  a  concurrent  resolution,  approved  June  17,  1915,  pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  appointment  of  a  new  Economy  and 
Efficiency  Commission,  to  consist  of  the  Governor,  the  auditor 
general  and  the  attorney  general,  which  should  continue  the 
work  of  the  old  commission  besides  undertaking  new  lines 
of  work  which  were  specified  in  the  resolution.  Provision 
was  made  that  the  expenses  of  this  commission  should  be  met 
from  moneys  carried  in  the  general  appropriation  act. 

133 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

This  commission  made  its  report  on  March  28,  1917,  in  the 
form  of  a  report  by  its  solicitor,  which  covers  much  the  same 
ground  as  the  report  of  its  predecessor  though  devoting  more 
attention  to  general  problems  of  administration,  such  as  the 
introduction  of  a  budget  system,  the  equalization  of  salaries, 
etc. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  the  Economy  and  efficiency  commission  of  the  common- 
wealth of  Pennsylvania.     Harrisburg,  W.  S.  Ray,  state  printer, 
1915.    VI,  64  p. 
Contents. 
Report. 

Appendix:  Tables  giving  reference  to  the  Acts  of  Assembly 
creating  and  relating  to  each  department;  name,  compensa- 
tion received  and  position  held  by  each  officer  and  employee ; 
act  regulating  each  position  and   indicating  method  of   its 
creation,  by  statute,  appropriation  or  contingent  fund. 
Report  of  Harry  S.  McDevitt,  the   Solicitor  of  the   Economy  and 
efficiency  commission  of  the  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  [to- 
gether with  conclusions  and  recommendations].    March  28,  1917. 
Harrisburg,  1917.    72  p. 

ARTICLES 

Hanford,  A.  C.    The  Pennsylvania  Economy  and  efficiency  commis- 
sion.    (In  Illinois.     General  Assembly.     Efficiency  and  economy 
committee.    Report.    Chicago,  1915.    p.  988-990.) 
in  «•. 

Illinois:  Efficiency  and  Economy  Committee.  Easily  the 
most  important  commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  that 
has  been  established  by  any  state,  whether  judged  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  comprehensive  and  scientific  character  of 
its  work,  or  from  that  of  actual  results  accomplished,  is  the 
body  known  as  the  Illinois  Efficiency  and  Economy  Committee. 
In  his  inaugural  address,  in  1913,  Governor  Dunne  recom- 
mended "the  appointment  of  a  joint  committee  of  both  houses 
of  the  legislature  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  the  public 
institutions  of  the  state  and  to  confer  with  the  Board  of  Ad- 
ministration to  ascertain  if  it  is  not  possible  to  reduce  the 
expenditures  of  the  same  without  impairing  the  efficiency  of 
these  institutions."  In  pursuance  of  this  recommendation  the 
legislature  in  the  same  year  passed  a  joint  resolution  providing 
for  the  creation  of  such  a  body,1  and  subsequently  appropri- 
ated the  sum  of  $40,000  for  its  support. 

1  Senate  Joint  Resolution  No.  22,  48th  General  Assembly,  1913. 

134 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

This  resolution  provided  for  the  constitution  of  a  joint 
committee  composed  of  four  senators  and  four  representatives 
which  should  have  full  power  and  authority: 

To  investigate  all  departments  of  the  state  government  in- 
cluding all  boards,  bureaus  and  commissions  which  have  been 
created  by  the  General  Assembly,  such  investigations  to  be 
made  with  a  view  of  securing  a  more  perfect  system  of  ac- 
counting, combining  and  centralizing  the  duties  of  the  various 
departments,  abolishing  such  as  are  useless  and  securing  for 
the  state  of  Illinois  such  reorganization  that  will  promote 
greater  efficiency  and  greater  economy  in  her  various  branches 
of  government. 

This  committee,  as  its  most  important  work,  made  an  ex- 
ceedingly thorough  and  detailed  study  of  the  entire  adminis- 
trative machinery  of  the  government,  the  results  of  which 
were  published  in  a  report  submitted  in  1915.  This  report  is 
an  exceptionally  able  document.  In  addition  to  containing  the 
report  proper  of  the  committee  it  includes  twelve  special 
reports  on  particular  topics  prepared  by  specialists  appointed 
for  the  purpose  and  performing  their  work  under  the  general 
direction  of  Mr.  John  A.  Fairlie,  Professor  of  Political 
Science  at  the  University  of  Illinois.  Although  we  have  not 
attempted  in  the  present  volume  to  summarize  the  conclusions 
reached  by  the  other  investigating  bodies  considered,  the  pres- 
ent report  is  such  an  exceptionally  able  document,  presents 
such  a  convincing  indictment  of  existing  administrative  con- 
ditions, not  only  in  Illinois  but  in  almost  all  of  our  states,  and 
points  out  so  clearly  the  steps  that  should  be  taken  to  relieve 
these  conditions,  that  we  feel  justified  in  making  an  exception 
in  its  case.  The  findings  and  recommendations  of  the  com- 
mittee, as  summarized  in  its  report,  were  as  follows: 

There  is  unnecessary  duplication  of  positions  and  salaries ; 
not  only  in  the  chief  officers  of  each  separate  bureau  or  board, 
but  still  more  in  their  staffs  of  clerks  and  employees.  But  this 
is  the  smallest  part  of  the  loss.  The  work  that  is  undertaken 
is  not  well  done ;  and  costs  much  more  for  the  results  obtained 
than  with  a  more  efficient  organization.  Supplies  in  many 
cases  are  purchased  in  small  quantities  for  each  office  or  insti- 
tution, which  could  be  secured  at  lower  prices  if  purchased  in 

135 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

larger  quantities  on  contracts  based  on  competitive  bids,  as  is 
done  by  the  Board  of  Administration  for  the  charitable  insti- 
tutions. The  absence  of  definite  correlation  and  cooperation 
between  the  most  closely  related  offices,  necessarily  leads  to 
loss  and  inefficient  work.  The  only  supervision  provided  by 
law  over  most  of  the  executive  offices,  boards  and  commis- 
sions, burdens  the  Governor  with  a  mass  of  unnecessary  detail 
which  no  single  individual  can  effectively  handle,  and  at  the 
same  time  does  not  afford  him  either  the  time  or  the  facilities 
for  the  proper  determination  of  the  more  important  questions 
of  administrative  and  legislative  policy.  The  present  arrange- 
ments also  fail  to  provide  the  General  Assembly  with  adequate 
information  or  advice  to  enable  it  to  perform  its  work  wisely, 
either  in  making  appropriations  or  in  enacting  substantive  leg- 
islation. And  while  reports  are  made  and  published,  they  are 
so  numerous  and  poorly  organized  that  the  general  public 
fails  to  receive  satisfactory  information  of  the  work  that  is 
done,  and  has  no  satisfactory  means  for  fixing  responsibility, 
or  of  discriminating  between  those  officials  who  perform  their 
work  well  and  those  who  perform  it  poorly  or  not  at  all. 

Lack  of  Correlation.  Under  the  existing  arrangements  in- 
efficiency and  waste  necessarily  arise  from  the  lack  of  correla- 
tion and  cooperation  in  the  work  of  different  offices  and  insti- 
tutions which  are  carrying  out  similar  or  closely  related  func- 
tions. There  are  separate  boards  for  each  of  the  State  peni- 
tentiaries and  reformatory  and  for  each  of  the  State  normal 
schools.  There  are  half  a  dozen  boards  dealing  with  agricul- 
tural interests;  and  about  a  score  of  separate  labor  agencies, 
including  four  boards  dealing  with  mining  problems  and  eight 
free  employment  offices,  each  substantially  independent  of 
each  other.  State  finance  administration  is  distributed  be- 
tween a  number  of  elective  and  appointive  officials  and  boards 
without  concentrated  responsibility.  The  supervision  of  cor- 
porations, and  of  banks,  insurance  companies  and  public  utili- 
ties is  exercised  by  a  series  of  distinct  departments.  State 
control  of  public  health  is  divided  between  various  boards  with 
no  effective  means  of  coordination.  Nor  is  there  any  official 
authority  for  harmonizing  the  work  of  the  numerous  educa- 
tional agencies. 

The  division  of  the  public  service  in  some  fields  has  even 
affected  the  authority  of  the  State  officials,  provided  by  the 
constitution,  where  in  some  cases  unrelated  functions  are 
placed  under  the  same  official.  The  title  of  the  Auditor  of 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

Public  Accounts  indicates  that  he  should  control  the  auditing 
of  all  public  accounts  in  the  State;  but  his  authority  in  this 
field  is  limited;  on  the  other  hand,  he  has  supervision  over 
banks  and  building  and  loan  associations,  a  function  quite 
distinct  from  the  audit  of  public  accounts.  So,  too,  the  At- 
torney General  should  be  the  chief  legal  officer  for  all  State 
offices  and  departments ;  but  special  counsel  and  attorneys  have 
been  provided  for  various  departments,  independent  of  the 
Attorney  General  and  not  subject  to  his  control;  while  this 
officer  has  been  given  supervision  over  inheritance  tax  admin- 
istration, which  should  be  primarily  a  financial  rather  than  a 
legal  matter. 

Scattered  Offices.  The  lack  of  correlation  between  differ- 
ent State  offices  is  further  indicated  and  emphasized  by  the 
physical  location  of  their  offices.  Thirty  State  officials  and 
commissions  have  offices  in  Chicago,  at  a  cost  for  rent  and 
other  expenses  of  $72,000  a  year.  These  offices  are  scattered 
in  different  buildings,  even  in  the  case  of  departments  whose 
functions  are  most  closely  related  to  each  other.  The  present 
arrangements  cause  an  unnecessary  expenditure  of  funds  for 
offices,  reduce  the  efficiency  of  the  State  service  in  their  deal- 
ings with  each  other,  and  add  greatly  to  the  inconvenience  of 
the  general  public  in  transacting  business  with  these  offices. 

No  Standards  of  Compensation.  Under  existing  legislation 
the  compensation  of  State  officers  lacks  any  approach  to  uni- 
formity on  the  basis  of  work  done.  Not  only  are  there 
boards  and  officials  who  receive  no  salary,  others  paid  on  a 
per  diem  basis,  and  still  others  paid  a  fixed  salary;  but  within 
each  of  these  classes  there  is  no  attempt  to  adjust  the  compen- 
sation to  the  time  given  to  the  public  service  or  to  the  duties 
performed.  The  State  Food  Commissioner  and  the  Chief 
Inspector  of  Private  Employment  Agencies  each  receive 
$3,600  a  year;  while  the  more  important  offices  of  Secretary 
of  the  State  Board  of  Health  and  Chief  Factory  Inspector  re- 
ceive only  $3,500  and  $3,000.  The  Commissioners  of  Labor 
each  receive  $150  a  year;  while  the  members  of  the  Board 
of  Arbitration  each  receive  $1,500  a  year,  and  the  members 
of  the  State  Board  of  Pardons  $3,500  a  year.  Inspectors  in 
different  departments  doing  a  similar  type  of  work  receive 
salaries  ranging  from  $1,200  in  one  department  to  $1,800  in 
another.  The  same  variations  in  compensation  for  similar 
work  exist  for  subordinate  positions,  where  the  salaries  are 
specified  in  the  appropriation  acts. 

137 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Overlapping  Functions.  Even  where  there  is  no  direct 
duplication  of  work,  the  present  laws  frequently  give  powers 
to  several  departments  under  which  each  employs  agents  for 
purposes  which  could  be  more  efficiently  and  economically 
performed  by  one  agent  at  the  same  time.  Thus  the  inspec- 
tors of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  the  State  Food  Commis- 
sioner and  the  Chief  Factory  Inspector  may  each  visit  the 
same  place  for  different  purposes  and  perhaps  give  conflicting 
orders;  while  a  single  thorough  inspection  for  all  of  these 
offices  would  be  more  effective  and  less  expensive. 

Irregularity  of  Reports.  One  source  of  confusion  in  the 
operation  of  the  numerous  State  offices,  boards  and  commis- 
sions is  the  complete  absence  of  uniformity  or  regularity  as  to 
their  reports.  Most  officers  are  required  to  report  to  the  Gover- 
nor ;  but  in  several  cases  reports  are  made  directly  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  and  in  some  cases  no  authority  is  specified. 
There  seems  to  be  no  rule  followed  in  requiring  reports  to  be 
made  annually  or  biennially  or  at  other  intervals.  Reports  are 
required  to  be  made  by  some  authority  in  every  month  in  the 
year  except  April ;  and  cover  widely  varying  periods  of  time. 

The  separate  publication  of  reports  for  each  minor  office 
and  the  lack  of  central  control  over  the  printing  of  such  re- 
ports add  much  to  the  expense  of  printing,  which  now  amounts 
to  over  $500,000  for  the  biennium.  A  large  proportion  of 
this  could  be  saved  by  a  more  concentrated  organization  and 
control  over  the  official  reports. 

Ineffective  Supervision.  As  a  result  of  the  absence  of  any 
systematic  organization  of  related  services,  there  is  no  effec- 
tive supervision  and  control  over  the  various  State  offices, 
boards  and  commissions.  It  is  true  that  the  greater  number 
of  these  are  under  the  nominal  supervision  of  the  Governor, 
through  his  power  of  appointment  and  removal.  But  the  very 
number  of  separate  offices  makes  impossible  the  exercise  of 
any  adequate  control.  To  a  very  large  extent  each  authority 
is  left  to  determine  its  own  action;  conflict  of  authority  be- 
tween two  or  more  offices  is  often  possible;  and  if  harmony 
and  cooperation  is  secured  it  is  by  voluntary  compromise  rather 
than  by  the  advice  or  decision  of  a  superior  authority.  Under 
the  present  arrangements  too  many  independent  authorities 
have  power  to  make  expenditures  subject  to  no  effective  cen- 
tralized control  or  responsibility.  This  situation  necessarily 
leads  to  waste  and  extravagance. 

At   the   same   time,    the   number   of   matters    necessarily 

138 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Governor — owing  to  the  ab- 
sence of  intermediate  supervising  officers — has  burdened  him 
with  such  a  mass  of  details  that  he  has  been  unable  to  exercise 
adequate  supervision  over  such  matters,  while  the  very  volume 
of  such  business  brought  to  his  attention  takes  time  from 
more  important  questions  of  general  policy. 

Moreover,  a  number  of  the  important  departments  and 
services  are  not  even  under  this  limited  supervision  of  the 
Governor.  This  is  true  of  the  officers  provided  for  by  the 
constitution;  and  also  of  a  number  of  boards  chosen  by  elec- 
tion or  by  other  methods,  as  the  State  Board  of  Equalization, 
the  Trustees  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  and  the  State  Board 
of  Agriculture.  In  the  case  of  the  constitutional  officers  this 
lack  of  control  extends  not  only  to  their  primary  functions,  but 
also  to  other  unrelated  powers  and  duties  imposed  on  them 
by  statute. 

No  Budget  System.  One  of  the  most  serious  defects  aris- 
ing from  the  lack  of  correlation  and  effective  supervision  over 
the  subordinate  authorities  is  the  absence  of  any  satisfactory 
budget  of  estimates  as  a  basis  for  appropriations.  The  need 
for  improvement  in  this  respect  was  indicated  in  the  act  of  the 
last  General  Assembly  creating  the  Legislative  Reference 
Bureau,  which  imposed  on  that  Bureau  the  duty  of  compiling 
estimates  of  appropriations.  Under  the  procedure  which  has 
hitherto  been  followed,  appropriations  have  been  based  in  the 
main  upon  estimates  and  requests  made  by  the  head  of  each 
office,  bureau  or  board,  most  of  which  officials  have  not  been 
charged  with  a  sufficient  degree  of  responsibility  to  make  them 
careful  and  sparing  in  their  requests.  The  General  Assembly 
has  been  compelled  to  act  upon  these  requests  without  sufficient 
time,  means  or  opportunity  for  adequate  investigation.  The 
result  has  been  that  unnecessary  appropriations  have  been  made 
in  some  cases  while  in  other  cases  needed  funds  for  important 
public  services  have  not  been  provided. 

The  State  Constitution,  in  Article  V,  paragraph  7,  pro- 
vides that  the  Governor  at  the  commencement  of  each  regular 
session  of  the  General  Assembly  shall  "present  estimates  of 
the  amount  of  money  required  to  be  raised  by  taxation  for 
all  purposes."  So  far  as  your  Committee  is  aware,  no  Gov- 
ernor has  heretofore  ever  complied  with  this  important  con- 
stitutional duty.  The  failure  to  do  so  has  undoubtedly  been 
due  in  the  main  to  the  fact  that  the  executive  authorities  as 
organized  have  not  afforded  the  Governor  the  facilities  needed 

139 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

to  perform  this  duty.  Just  as  the  number  of  minor  offices 
and  boards  under  his  nominal  supervision  prevents  any  effec- 
tive control  over  their  action ;  so  too  it  prevents  any  adequate 
examination  of  their  requests  for  appropriations  on  which  the 
Governor  can  base  his  recommendations. 

The  compilation  of  estimates  for  appropriations  requested 
to  be  prepared  by  the  Legislative  Reference  Bureau  is  a  step  in 
the  right  direction;  but  this  can  hardly  be  considered  an 
entirely  satisfactory  budget  system. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Committee,  the  constitutional  pro- 
vision referred  to  above  contemplates  that  the  -Governor  shall 
present  to  the  General  Assembly  a  detailed  budget  of  appro- 
priations recommended  by  him  for  the  ensuing  biennium,  to- 
gether with  an  estimate  of  the  revenues  of  the  State  from 
sources  other  than  direct  taxation  during  the  biennium,  and 
a  statement  as  to  the  amount  to  be  met  by  taxation.  The 
careful  preparation  of  such  a  budget  would  be  a  potent  factor 
in  securing  economy  and  efficiency  throughout  the  executive 
departments.  But  to  make  this  possible  requires  not  only  new 
methods  of  preparing  and  analyzing  estimates,  but  also  exten- 
sive reorganization  and  consolidation  of  the  executive  depart- 
ments, so  that  the  estimates  from  each  group  of  related  serv- 
ices may  be  based  on  adequate  consideration  by  competent 
officials.  A  new  Governor  will  not  be  able  to  present  such  a 
budget  at  the  beginning  of  the  regular  session  of  the  General 
Assembly,  but  he  could  do  so  probably  by  March  i. 

Imperfect  Accounts.  As  a  result  largely  of  the  absence  of 
a  proper  budgetary  system,  the  accounts  of  most  of  the  vari- 
ous State  authorities  are  entirely  inadequate.  The  accounts 
kept  by  the  Auditor  of  Public  Accounts  cover  all  that  is  re- 
quired by  law,  and  appear  to  be  carefully  administered;  but 
they  are  limited  to  records  of  cash  transactions  and  to  keep- 
ing disbursements  within  the  authorized  appropriations.  There 
is  no  record  for  the  State  as  a  whole  or  for  most  of  the  State 
offices  of  estimated  revenues  or  outstanding  obligations,  and 
no  attempt  at  preparing  a  balance  sheet  of  assets  and  liabilities. 
Accounts  and  financial  statements  even  for  similar  institutions 
and  offices  (such  as  the  penitentiaries)  are  so  radically  differ- 
ent that  comparison  and  deductions  are  impossible.  Without 
an  adequate  system  of  accounting  along  similar  lines  there  can 
be  no  effective  control  over  appropriations  or  expenditures. 

Inadequate  Advice  on  Legislation.  With  the  existing  lack 
of  efficient  executive  organization,  both  the  Governor  and  the 

140 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

General  Assembly  fail  to  receive  proper  information  and  ad- 
vice as  to  needed  legislation.  The  constitution  provides  that 
the  Governor  shall  recommend  to  the  General  Assembly  such 
measures  as  he  shall  deem  expedient.  But  no  machinery  has 
been  provided  by  which  the  recommendations  and  proposals 
for  legislation  from  the  numerous  lists  of  officers,  boards  and 
commissions  can  be  carefully  weighed  and  sifted  by  officials 
charged  with  responsibility  over  a  large  field  of  administration. 
Conflicting  measures  are  often  proposed  by  different  State 
authorities ;  and  many  proposals  are  presented  from  outside 
sources  both  on  subjects  within  and  without  the  jurisdiction 
of  existing  executive  officials.  As  a  result  there  is  no  har- 
monious legislative  policy  even  formulated ;  and  the  measures 
enacted  not  only  lack  coherence,  but  at  times  acts  are  passed 
at  the  same  session  which  contain  directly  contradictory  pro- 
visions. There  is  clear  need  for  an  executive  organization 
which  will  make  possible  a  well-defined  administrative  pro- 
gram of  legislation. 

Another  result  of  the  present  methods  of  legislation  has 
been  the  creation  of  many  new  and  independent  authorities, 
at  an  increased  expense  to  the  State,  where  in  many  cases  the 
work  might  have  been  more  efficiently  and  economically  or- 
ganized in  connection  with  some  existing  agency.  For  ex- 
ample, a  Fish  Commission  was  established  in  1879,  and  a 
separate  office  of  Game  Commissioner  in  1889.  In  1913, 
these  two  authorities  were  consolidated  under  the  Game  and 
Fish  Conservation  Commission;  and  the  appropriations  for 
this  body  were  $50,000  less  than  those  made  two  years  before 
for  the  two  separate  authorities. 

Irresponsible  Government.  Finally  under  the  present  ar- 
rangements while  the  general  public  is  deluged  with  printed 
reports,  it  fails  to  receive  reliable  information  in  digestible 
form  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  State  administration,  and  is 
unable  to  locate  definite  responsibility  for  negligence  or  mis- 
conduct in  public  business.  Public  opinion  usually  considers 
the  Governor  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the  State  govern- 
ment; but  with  the  lack  of  effective  executive  control  over  the 
subordinate  officials  this  opinion  is  not  fully  justified.  At  the 
same  time,  the  popular  conception  of  the  Governor's  responsi- 
bility, in  the  opinion  of  this  Committee,  is  based  on  a  sound 
and  just  principle;  and  the  machinery  of  state  administration 
should  be  so  organized  as  to  enable  this  conception  to  be  ade- 
quately realized. 

141 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

To  correct  these  conditions  the  committee  made  a  large 
number  of  very  important  recommendations.  Among  these 
chief  mention  should  be  made  that  the  entire  administrative 
system  of  the  state  be  reorganized  so  as  to  bring  into  exist- 
ence an  integrated  system  of  administration  corresponding  to 
that  of  the  national  government,  that  provision  be  made  for 
a  strong  organ  of  central  financial  and  administrative  control 
and  that  the  state  definitely  adopt  a  scientific  budget  system. 
These  far-reaching  recommendations  were  for  the  most  part 
accepted  and  acted  upon  by  the  next  General  Assembly.  By 
an  act  approved  March  7,  1917,  entitled  "An  Act  in  Relation 
to  the  Civil  Administration  of  the  State  Government,"  pro- 
vision was  made  for  a  thorough  reorganization  of  the  admin- 
istrative branch  of  the  government  along  the  lines  recom- 
mended by  the  committee  and  the  adoption  of  many  of  the 
other  recommendations  of  that  body.  Specific  provision  was 
also  made  for  the  adoption  of  a  budgetary  system  and  a 
strong  budgetary  organ  was  created  for  its  administration, 
under  the  name  of  the  Department  of  Finance.  As  this  body 
is  decidedly  an  organ  of  central  administrative  control  and 
not  merely  a  research  agency,  it  has  been  treated  under  the 
part  of  this  volume  devoted  to  such  organs.1 

PUBLICATIONS 

Preliminary  report   of  the   Efficiency  and   economy   committee  .  .  . 

[Chicago,  1914.]     15  p. 

Report  of  the  Efficiency  and  economy  committee  created  under  the 
authority  of  the  forty-eighth  General  assembly,  state,  Illinois 
.  .  .  [December  i,  1914.]  [Chicago,  The  Windermere  press, 
1914.]  80  p.  2  fold,  diagrs. 

Report  of  the  Economy  and  efficiency  committee  .  .  .  [with  appen- 
dices].   [Chicago,  The  Windermere  press],  1915.    1051  p.    2  fold, 
diagrs. 
Partial  Contents. 

Present  organization  of  state  government. 

Defects  of  the  present  arrangement. 

Tendencies  toward  concentration. 

Finance  administration. 

Charitable  and  correctional  institutions. 

Educational  agencies. 

Administration  of  labor  laws. 

Agricultural  agencies. 

Public  health  administration. 

Public  works,  parks  and  buildings. 

1  See  p.  296  ff. 

142 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

State  supervision  of  corporations. 

Appendix  [No.  i].    A  report  on  revenue  and  finance  adminis- 
tration, by  John  A.  Fairlie,  p.  83-183. 
Revenue  administration  in  Illinois. 
Finance  administration  in  other  states  and  counties. 
State  contracts,  printing  and  supplies.     (Includes  section  on 

public  printing  in  other  states.) 
Appendix  [No.  2].    A  report  on  the  accounts  of  the  state  of 

Illinois,  by  George  E.  Frazer,  p.  185-248. 
Appendix  [No.  3].    A  report  on  accounting  administration  for 

correctional  institutions,  by  Spurgeon  Bell,  p.  249-339. 
Appendix   [No.  4],     A  report  on  charitable  and  correctional 
institutions,  by  James  W.  Garner,  p.  341-402.     (Includes 
section  on  charitable  and  penal   administration   in   other 
states  and  countries.) 
Appendix  [No.  5].    A  report  on  educational  administration,  by 

John  M.  Mathews,  p.  403-485. 
Educational  administration^  in  Illinois. 
Educational  administration  in  other  states  and  countries. 
State  library  administration. 
Scientific  surveys. 
Examining  boards. 

Appendix  [No.  6].  A  report  on  the  administration  of  labor 
and  mining  legislation,  by  W.  F.  Dodd,  p.  487-590.  (In- 
cludes section  on  recent  legislation  in  other  states.) 
Appendix  [No.  7].  A  report  on  public  administration  in  rela- 
tion to  agriculture  and  allied  interests,  by  James  W.  Gar- 
ner, p.  591-641.  (Includes  section  on  agricultural  admin- 
istration in  other  states  and  countries.) 

Appendix  [No.  8].  A  report  on  public  health  administration, 
by  John  M.  Mathews,  p.  643-696.  (Includes  sections  on 
relation  between  state  and  local  authorities,  and  on  state 
health  administration  in  New  York  and  Wisconsin.) 
Appendix  [No.  9].  A  report  on  supervision  of  corporations 
and  related  business,  by  Maurice  H.  Robinson,  p.  697-752. 
(Includes  section  on  corporation  commissions  in  other 
states.) 

Appendix  [No.  10].  A  report  on  state  administration  of  pub- 
lic works,  parks  and  buildings,  by  C.  O.  Gardner,  p.  753- 
865. 

Highways. 
Water  resources. 

Fish  and  game  conservation  commission. 
State  control  of  natural  resources. 
State  parks. 

Public  buildings  and  monuments. 
Appendix  [No.  u].     A  report  on  the  military  department  of 

the  state  of  Illinois,  by  Quincy  Wright,  p.  867-906. 
Appendix  [No.  12],     A  report  on  civil  service  laws,  by  A.  C. 
Hanford,  p.  907-938.     (Includes  section  on  civil   service 
laws  of  the  United  States  and  other  states.) 
Appendix  [No.  13].     A  report  on  the  Secretary  of  state  and 
law  officers,  p.  939-970. 

143 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Appendix  [No.  14].  A  report  on  economy  and  efficiency  com- 
missions in  other  states,  by  A.  C.  Hanford,  p.  971-998. 
(Relates  to  commissions  of  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Minnesota,  and  Iowa.) 

Appendix  [No.  15].  A  report  on  fire  insurance  rates  in  Illi- 
nois, by  Maurice  H.  Robinson,  p.  999-1028. 

Appendix  [No.  16].  Comparative  statement  of  Appropria- 
tions, made  by  the  General  assembly,  state  of  Illinois, 
compiled  by  Thomas  P.  Waters,  p.  1029-1051. 

Charts. 

State  executive  organization  in  Illinois,  p.  18. 
Proposed  state  executive  organization  in  Illinois,  p.  30. 

Minnesota:  Efficiency  and  Economy  Commission.  In  1913 
the  Governor  of  Minnesota  appointed  a  commission  of  thirty 
men,  so  selected  as  to  represent  all  parts  of  the  state  and  the 
different  political  and  industrial  interests,  to  make  a  study  and 
report  of  the  changes  that  should  be  made  in  the  administra- 
tive system  of  the  state  with  a  view  to  making  such  system 
more  efficient.  The  commission  had  no  appropriation  from 
the  state.  Its  members  served  without  compensation  and  paid 
all  of  their  traveling  expenses.  The  funds  necessary  to  meet 
general  expenses  were  raised  by  private  subscription. 

This  commission  made  two  very  able  reports :  one,  a  pre- 
liminary report  submitted  May  25,  1914;  and  the  other,  a 
final  report  submitted  in  November  of  the  same  year.  The 
recommendations  of  the  commission  centered  around  three 
fundamental  reforms :  ( i )  the  thorough  reorganization  of  the 
civil  administration  so  as  to. provide  for  the  establishment  of 
a  relatively  few  departments  in  substitution  for  the  existing 
multiplicity  of  separate  agencies;  (2)  the  adoption  of  a  scien- 
tific budget  system;  and  (3)  the  definite  establishment  of  a 
merit  system  to  cover  all  appointments  and  promotions  in  the 
executive  branch  of  the  government. 

Regarding  the  first  point,  the  commission  in  its  prelimi- 
nary report  said : 

The  worst  faults  in  the  present  organization  of  the  state 
government — the  same  is  true  of  practically  every  state  in  the 
Union — are  lack  of  unity  and  lack  of  responsibility.  The 
government  is  incoherent.  There  are  a  multitude  of  dis- 
connected, unaffiliated  departments  and  bureaus,  over  which 
neither  the  governor  nor  the  legislature  nor  the  people  have 
effective  control.  For  want  of  coordination  there  is  duplica- 

144 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

tion  of  work  and  an  unnecessary  number  of  employees.  The 
Commission's  plan  will  assure  cooperation  between  related 
offices,  fix  'responsibility,  and  centralize  control.  Related 
bureaus  will  be  grouped  under  a  few  executive  departments. 
Each  department  will  be  headed  by  a  single  director.  The 
directors,  with  two  exceptions,  will  be  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor with  the  consent  of  the  senate.  The  governor,  the  direct 
representative  of  the  people,  will  thus  be  responsible  for  the 
entire  administration.  Instead  of  fifty  or  sixty  independent 
governments,  there  will  be  one  state  administration. 

Regarding  the  second,  the  report  said : 

The  budget  system  means  the  substitution  of  method  for 
what  is  little  better  than  madness.  It  means  careful  consider- 
ation of  the  expenditures  as  a  whole.  It  means  study  of  the 
relative  needs  instead  of  guesswork.  This  consideration  will 
begin  with  the  executive,  acting  as  a  unit.  The  governor  will 
submit  to  the  legislature  complete  estimates.  The  legislature 
will  no  longer  be  assailed  by  the  clamor  of  individual  and  even 
subordinate  officers.  It  will  be  in  a  position  to  consider  the 
state's  expenditures  as  one  unit  made  up  of  related  parts. 
Haphazard  extravagance  will  give  place  to  systematic  con- 
sideration of  appropriations. 

Regarding  the  third,  the  report  presents  the  well-known 
arguments  against  the  widely  prevalent  spoils  system,  and 
the  advantages  of  a  system  under  which  employees  have  a 
permanency  of  tenure  dependent  only  upon  faithful  discharge 
of  duties,  and  appointments  and  promotions  are  made  for 
merit  alone.  It  especially  brings  out  the  necessity  for  a  merit 
system  under  a  regime  of  centralized  responsibility  such  as 
was  proposed  by  the  commission  in  order  to  provide  protec- 
tion against  a  possible  abuse  of  power  by  the  Governor  and  the 
heads  of  the  departments.  > 

The  final  report  has  the  especial  value  in  that  it  contains 
the  draft  of  a  civil  administrative  code  by  which  the  reforms 
recommended  might  be  put  into  effect. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Preliminary  report  of  the  Efficiency  and  economy  commission;  a  plan 
for  reorganizing  the  executive  branch  of  the  state  government 
in  Minnesota.  The  merit  system  in  civil  service,  the  budget  sys- 

145 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

tern  in  appropriations.  Submitted  to  the  Governor  of  Minnesota, 
A.  O.  Eberhart,  May  25,  1914.  St.  Paul,  1914.  30  p. 
Final  report  of  the  Efficiency  and  economy  commission:  a  proposed 
bill  for  reorganizing  the  civil  administration  of  the  state  of 
Minnesota,  the  merit  system  in  civil  service,  the  budget  system 
in  appropriations,  with  prefatory  statement,  annotations,  and  ex- 
planatory notes.  November,  1914.  St.  Paul  [1914]  VII,  89  p. 
diagrs. 

ARTICLES 

Hanford,  A.  C.  The  Minnesota  Economy  and  efficiency  commission. 
(In  Illinois.  General  assembly.  Efficiency  and  economy  •  com- 
mittee. Report.  Chicago,  1915.  p.  990-93.) 

Minnesota:  Commission  on  Reorganization  of  Civil  Ad- 
ministration. The  reports  of  the  Efficiency  and  Economy 
Commission  submitted  in  1914  made  such  a  convincing  show- 
ing of  the  defects  in  the  existing  administrative  system  of  the 
state  that  the  legislature,  by  resolution  approved  April  21, 
1915,  provided  for  the  creation  of  a  commission  "for  the 
purpose  of  investigating  the  advisability  of  making  changes 
in  the  civil  administration  of  the  state,  and  for  the  further 
purpose  of  promoting  more  efficiency  and  economy  in  the 
various  activities  of  the  state."  The  resolution  provided  that 
the  commission  should  be  composed  of  eleven  members :  three 
to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor,  four  by  the  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor, and  four  by  the  Speaker  of  the  House ;  and  that  it  should 
make  its  report  not  later  than  November  15,  1916. 

The  report  of  the  commission  was  in  fact  submitted  at 
a  later  date,  and  was  transmitted  to  the  legislature  by  the 
Governor  as  an  appendix  to  his  inaugural  message  in  1917. 
The  report  was  a  very  brief  one.  In  the  main  it  contented 
itself  with  an  indorsement  of  the  recommendations  of  the 
Efficiency  and  Economy  Commission,  though  it  modifies  and 
adds  to  these  recommendations  in  certain  respects.  Probably 
its  most  important  recommendation  was  that  the  legislature 
provide  for  the  holding  of  a  constitutional  convention  to  the 
end  that  changes  might  be  made  in  the  existing  constitution 
that  would  provide  for  or  make  possible  a  thorough  reorgani- 
zation of  the  administrative  branch  of  the  government  On 
this  point  the  report  reads : 

It  is  further  proposed  and  recommended  that  the  coming 
session  of  the  Legislature  provide  by  law,  as  required  by  the 

146 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

constitution,  for  the  holding  of  a  constitutional  convention. 
We  in  our  Work  constantly  have  found  that  systematic  revision 
of  the  departments  of  state  on  strictly  business  principles 
cannot  well  be  done  under  the  present  constitution,  and  in 
order  to  accomplish  a  complete  revision  and  coordination,  it  is 
absolutely  essential  that  the  constitution  be  changed.  When 
the  present  constitution  was  adopted  the  activities  of  the  state 
were  limited.  Since  its  adoption  the  state  has  increased  its 
activities  more  than  four- fold  and  it  seems  to  us  to  be  highly 
necessary  that  a  complete  revision  of  the  constitution  be  made 
and  this  we  believe  best  can  be  accomplished  through  a  consti- 
tutional convention. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  Commission  on  reorganization  of  civil  administration,  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Speaker  of 
the  House.  [Nov.  15,  1916?]  (In  Minnesota.  Governor.  In- 
augural message  of  Gov.  J.  A.  A.  Burnquist  to  the  Legislature, 
1917.  p.  21-27.) 

The  report,  containing  specific  recommendations,  was  published 
as  a  supplement  to  the  Governor's  message. 

Iowa:  Joint  Committee  on  Retrenchment  and  Reform. 

On  February  6,  1913,  the  legislature  of  Iowa,  by  joint  resolu- 
tion, provided  for  the  creation  of  a  Joint  Committee  on  Re- 
trenchment and  Reform,  to  be  composed  of  the  chairmen  of 
the  committees  on  ways  and  means,  judiciary  and  appropria- 
tions of  the  two  houses,  to  investigate  the  government  of  the 
state  with  a  view  to  the  introduction  of  reform  that  would 
bring  about  a  more  economical  and  efficient  administration  of 
public  affairs.  This  committee  employed  the  accounting  firm 
of  Quail,  Parker  &  Co.  to  assist  it  in  its  work.  Later,  by  act 
of  March  17,  1913,  the  committee  was  specifically  empowered 
to  employ  "expert  accountants  and  efficiency  engineers"  and 
to  "institute  such  changes  in  the  administration  of  public 
affairs  as  will  promote  the  efficiency  and  economical  admin- 
istration of  the  affairs  of  the  state  in  its  various  departments." 
LTnder  this  latter  authorization  the  firm  of  Quail,  Parker  & 
Co.  was  employed  to  make  further  and  more  extensive  in- 
vestigations  for  the  committee. 

This  firm  submitted  its  final  report  on  December  21,  1913. 
Unfortunately  this  report  has  never  been  printed.     It  consists 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

of  a  closely  typewritten  manuscript  of  841  pages.  Previous 
reports  had  been  submitted  on  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
March  25,  1913,  and  on  the  heating  plant,  May  21,  1913. 

On  November  12,  1914,  the  committee  made  a  brief  pre- 
liminary report  and  announced  that  a  fuller  report  would  be 
submitted  later.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  this  was 
ever  done. 

The  work  of  this  committee  and  its  recommendations  as 
well  as  those  of  the  expert  accountants  are  excellently  sum- 
marized by  Professor  Frank  E.  Horack  in  his  "Reorganization 
of  State  Government  in  Iowa/'  which  appears  as  a  chapter  in 
Iowa  Applied  History  Series,  Vol.  II.  The  more  important 
recommendations  were  for:  the  introduction  of  a  scientific 
budget  system;  the  reorganization  of  the  executive  branch  of 
the  government;  the  creation  of  the  office  of  state  purchasing 
agent;  provision  for  an  official  known  as  chief  accountant; 
and  the  establishment  of  a  civil  service  commission  or  bureau 
to  administer  a  merit  system  in  respect  to  the  appointment  of 
all  administrative  employees. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Recommendations   of   the   Committee   on   retrenchment   and   reform 
of  the  thirty-fifth  General  assembly  to  the  members  of  the  thirty- 
sixth  General  assembly  and  the  general  public.     [Nov.  12,  1914.] 
Des  Moines,  R.  Henderson,  state  printer,  1914.    16  p. 
This  "preliminary  report"  was  published  also  in  the  Des  Moines 

Register  and  Leader,  Nov.  16,  1914. 
Contents. 

Departments  of  the  state's  business. 
Department  of  social  progress. 
Department  of  industries. 
Department  of  public  safety. 
Budget. 

Printing  and  binding. 
Legislative. 
Automobiles. 
Purchasing  agent. 

Report  [and  resolution  on  the  Department  of  agriculture  and  state 
fairs].  (In  Iowa.  Journal  of  the  Senate,  April  4,  1913,  p. 
1646-48.) 

The  interim  report  of  Quail,  Parker  and  company,  chartered 
accountants  and  efficiency  engineers,  on  the  investigation  of 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  is  appended  to  the  report.  See 
p.  1649-67. 

148 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

ARTICLES 

Hanford,  A.  C.  The  Iowa  Committee  on  retrenchment  and  reform. 
(In  Illinois.  General  assembly.  Efficiency  and  economy  commit- 
tee. Report.  Chicago,  1915.  p.  993-97.) 

Horack,  Frank  E.  Reorganization  of  state  government  in  Iowa. 
Iowa  City,  la.,  state  historical  society  of  Iowa,  1914.  88  p. 
(Iowa  applied  history  series,  ed.  by  B.  F.  Shambaugh.  [Vol. 
II,  No.  2.]) 

Connecticut:  State  Commission  on  the  Consolidation  of 
State  Commissions  and  the  Reorganization  of  the  Public 
Health  Laws.  On  February  9,  1915,  Connecticut  passed  an 
act  providing  for  the  appointment  by  the  Governor  of  a  com- 
mission of  nine  members,  a  majority  of  whom  should  be  mem- 
bers of  the  General  Assembly  or  of  existing  state  or  county 
commissions,  which  was  directed  on  or  before  April  I,  of  the 
same  year,  to  submit  to  the  General  Assembly  a  report  with 
recommendations  relative  to: 

The  reorganization  and  consolidation  of  the  various  state 
and  county  boards  and  commissions  with  a  view  to  greater 
economy  and  efficiency ;  the  revision  of  the  public  health  laws 
with  the  purpose  of  fixing  more  definitely  the  responsibility  of 
officials,  and  of  eliminating  waste  and  duplication  of  authority 
and  of  preventive  laws,  with  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
whether  the  constructive  work  of  medicine  and  science  may 
not  be  more  efficient  than  is  possible  under  present  law. 

This  commission  was  duly  constituted  by  the  Governor, 
held  numerous  hearings  at  which  officials  of  the  several  ad- 
ministrative services  of  the  state  were  heard  and  submitted 
a  report  of  something  over  a  hundred  pages  giving  the  results 
of  its  findings  and  the  recommendations  for  action.  These 
recommendations  called  for  the  consolidation  or  reorganiza- 
tion of  various  services.  In  most  all  cases  drafts  of  bills 
were  submitted  to  carry  out  their  recommendations. 

As  a  result  of  the  commission's  report  an  act  was  passed 
establishing  a  State  Department  of  Labor  and  Factory  In- 
spection, and  legislative  action  on  the  other  recommendations 
is  being  considered. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  a  commission  to  investigate  the  advisability  of  consolidat- 
ing certain  state  boards  and  commissions  and  to  investigate  the 

149 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

public  health  laws  .  .  .  Hartford,  Pub.  by  the  state,  1915.     108 

p.  fold.  tab. 

Contents. 

Agricultural  boards  and  commissions. 

Industrial  boards  and  commissions. 

Workmen's  compensation  commission. 

State  boards  of  examiners. 

Department  of  public  health  and  the  public  health  laws. 

State  tuberculosis  commission. 

State  board  of  charities. 

State  board  of  fisheries  and  game. 

State  police. 

Shell-fish  commissioners. 

Appendix :     Exhibits. 

Kansas:  Efficiency  and  Economy  Committee.  By  a  joint 
resolution  of  March  20,  1915,  the  Kansas  legislature  made 
provision  for  a  committee  of  three,  one  to  be  elected  by  the 
Senate,  one  by  the  House,  and  one  appointed  by  the  Governor, 
"to  investigate  in  the  most  searching  way  the  business  man- 
agement of  every  institution  and  department  in  Kansas. " 

In  a  so-called  "partial"  report,  made  in  December,  1916, 
this  committee  recommended  a  scientific  budgetary  procedure 
for  the  state,  and  various  other  changes  of  the  state's  admin- 
istrative system,  including  the  creation  of  a  commission  on 
administration  dealing  with  educational,  charitable  and  cor- 
rectional institutions;  a  uniform  system  of  accounting;  a  cen- 
tral store  and  purchasing  agent;  and  the  consolidation  of  all 
agencies  pertaining  to  agriculture  into  a  department  of  agri- 
culture. 

In  1917  it  made  a  special  report  on  the  educational  insti- 
tutions of  Kansas. 

In  the  same  year,  Mr.  J.  O.  Joseph,  Senate  member  of 
the  committee,  printed  a  special  report  giving  the  results  of 
his  personal  examination  of  state  institutions  and  depart- 
ments and  his  recommendations  for  reform.  Appended  to  his 
report  were  drafts  of  bills  prepared  by  him  having  for  their 
purpose  the  putting  into  effect  of  his  recommendations.  They 
related  to  such  matters  as  a  budget  system,  a  central  stores 
system,  uniform  accounts,  appointments  for  fitness  and  re- 
moval for  incompetence  and  procedure  in  the  offices  of  the 
state  treasurer  and  auditor. 

150 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

PUBLICATIONS 

Partial  report  of  the  Efficiency  and  economy  committee  of  Kansas. 
Dec.  16,  1916.  Topeka,  Kansas  state  printing  plant,  1916.  12  p. 

Report  of  the  Efficiency  and  economy  committee  on  the  educational 
institutions  of  Kansas.  [Topeka?  1917?]  12  p. 

Report  of  the  Efficiency  and  economy  committee  on  the  penal,  char- 
itable and  other  institutions  of  Kansas.  [Topeka?  1917?]  10  p. 

Economy  and  efficiency  report  of  Senator  J.  D.  Joseph,  senate  mem- 
ber of  Efficiency  and  economy  commission.  [Topeka,  1917.]  76 
p.  fold,  map,  fold,  charts. 

Alabama:  Legislative  Investigating  Committee.  In  1915 
the  legislature  of  Alabama  provided  by  joint  resolution  for 
the  creation  of  a  "Legislative  Investigating  Committee,"  with 
the  duty  of  investigating  and  ^reporting  the  steps  that  should 
be  taken  to  put  the  administration  of  governmental  affairs 
upon  a  more  efficient  and  economical  basis.  This  committee, 
after  examining  over  twelve  hundred  witnesses  and  making 
special  inquiries  regarding  the  conduct  of  public  affairs,  sub- 
mitted its  report  on  July  13,  1915. 

Upon  the  fiscal  side  the  committee  found  conditions  to 
be  exceedingly  unsatisfactory.  The  report  reads : 

An  examiner  of  accounts,  as  he  goes  from  department  to 
department,  is  confronted  with  different  conditions  and  differ- 
ent systems.  A  lack  of  uniformity  results  in  a  loss  of  effi- 
ciency. Embezzlement  of  public  funds,  unauthorized  expendi- 
tures of  public  moneys,  gross  extravagances,  misuse  of  official 
trust,  and  graft,  large  and  petty,  to  which  we  shall  hereafter 
call  attention,  can  for  the  most  part  be  traced  to  a  total  lack 
of  system.  A  business  corporation  or  man,  following  sim- 
ilar methods,  would  meet  certain  bankruptcy.  .  .  .  Our 
first  recommendation,  therefore,  is  that  there  be  employed, 
through  a  commission  provided  for  in  a  bill  herewith  sub- 
mitted, the  most  competent  certified  public  accountant  that 
can  be  obtained ;  that  this  accountant  be  authorized  to  put  the 
State  of  Alabama  on  a  systematic  basis  at  once,  that  the  book- 
keeping, the  payment  of  funds,  the  record  of  receipts  and 
disbursements  be  modernized,  simplified-,  and  made  uniform 
throughout  all  the  departments  of  the  state  and  throughout 
such  offices  of  the  counties  as  handle  state  funds,  and  as  are 
subject  to  state  supervision. 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  report  then  goes  on  to  recommend  the  establishment 
of  a  state  budget  system,  submitting  a  draft  of  a  bill  for  the 
purpose. 

Other  recommendations  deal  with  fidelity  bonds,  codifi- 
cation of  the  laws,  public  printing,  convict  labor,  immigration, 
state  purchasing,  confederate  pensions,  and  some  other  mat- 
ters. Especially  unsatisfactory  were  the  conditions  found  \n 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Industries.  "In  this  De- 
partment," the  committee  says,  "we  have  found  evidence  of 
spoil,  graft  and  corruption.  The  department  of  pure  food 
and  drugs  during  the  past  four  years,  instead  of  being  used 
for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the  public  from  impure  foods 
and  drugs,  has  served  as  a  means  for  a  systematic  scheme  of 
robbery  and  thievery." 

In  conclusion  the  committee  asks  that  it  be  continued  in 
order  to  complete  its  investigations. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  the  Legislative  investigating  committee  to  the  Legislature 
of  1915.    July  13,  1915.     Montgomery,  Brown  printing  company, 
state  printers,  1915.    58  p.     (Legislative  document  No.  13.) 
A  summary  of  the  report  was  printed  in  the  Montgomery  Adver- 
tiser, July  14,  1915. 
Contents. 

General  conditions. 

State  budget  system. 

Legislative. 

Code  commissioner. 

Convict  department. 

Department  of  agriculture  and  industries. 

Immigration  department. 

State  game  and  fish  commissioner. 

Attorney  General's  office. 

Educational  department. 

Military  department. 

Railroad  commission. 

Archives  and  history  department. 

Expenditures  for  printing. 

State  purchasing  department. 

Miscellaneous. 

Colorado:  Survey  Committee  of  State  Affairs.     In  1915 

the  legislature  of  Colorado  provided  for  the  establishment  of 
a  committee  with  the  function  of  making  a  survey  of  the  or- 
ganization and  methods  of  business  of  the  state  government 

152 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

with  a  view  to  the  formulation  of  suggestions  having  for  their 
purpose  the  improvement  of  the  manner  in  which  public  affairs 
were  being  conducted.1  This  committee  called  to  its  assist- 
ance experts  in  administration  in  various  fields  and  undertook 
a  very  systematic  survey  of  the  state  government  and  its 
methods  of  administration.  In  addition  to  submitting  certain 
special  reports  it  submitted  in  December,  1916,  a  "Summary 
of  Findings  and  Recommendations  relating  to  the  Executive 
Branch  of  the  State  Government  of  Colorado/'  which,  though 
brief,  was  a  very  able  diagnosis  of  the  ills  of  that  branch  of 
the  government  and  contained  excellent  recommendations  for 
their  correction. 

Among  the  latter  the  most  important  were  for  the  integra- 
tion of  the  administrative  services,  the  increase  in  the  powers 
of  the  Governor  as  head  of  the  administration,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  a  scientifically  devised  budget  system. 

Recommendations  were  also  made  with  regard  to  account- 
ing, auditing,  and  reporting  of  public  revenues  and  disburse- 
ments, and  the  custody  of  public  funds;  with  regard  to  the 
regulation  and  supervision  of  labor,  the  control  of  corpora- 
tions, public  works,  purchasing  methods,  care  of  dependents, 
delinquents  and  defectives,  the  protection  of  game  and  fish, 
and  with  regard  to  a  number  of  other  services  and  activities 
of  the  state. 

The  Survey  Committee  also  issued  in  1916  a  report  on 
"The  Work  of  the  Colorado  Tax  Commission,"  prepared  for 
it  by  Professor  R.  M.  Haig,  of  Columbia  University,  with  a 
letter  of  comment  by  Professor  E.  R.  A.  Seligman.  The  aboli- 
tion of  the  Tax  Commission  was  then  under  consideration  in 
the  Colorado  legislature,  which  action  Professor  Haig  deemed 
would  be  unwise,  the  accomplishments  of  the  commission  fully 
justifying  its  continuation.  In  this  conclusion  Professor 
Seligman  concurred. 

For  the  purposes  of  discussion,  but  without  any  recom- 
mendation, the  Survey  Committee  issued  in  1917  the  draft 
of  a  highway  law  for  the  state. 

1  Colorada,  Acts,  1915,  Ch.   161. 

153 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


PUBLICATIONS 

Reports.     [Prepared  for  the   Survey  committee  of  state  affairs  of 

Colorado.]     [Denver,  Brook-Haffner  press.]     1916. 

No.  i.  Report  on  a  survey  of  the  Office  of  governor  of  the 
state  of  Colorado. 

No.  2.  Report  on  a  survey  of  the  Office  of  secretary  of  state 
and  on  public  control  of  corporations,  including  Pub- 
lic utilities  commission,  state  bank  Commissioner, 
Department  of  insurance,  Bureau  of  building  and 
loan  associations,  General  corporation  licensing  and 
control,  commission  merchant  inspectors  .  .  . 

No.  3.  Report  on  a  survey  of  the  Office  of  auditor  of  state 
and  of  the  Office  of  public  examiner. 

No.     4.     Report  on  a  survey  of  the  Office  of  state  treasurer. 

No.     5.     Report  on  a  survey  of  the  State  auditing  board. 

No.  6.  Report  on  a  study  of  state  finances  and  budget  pro- 
cedure. 

No.  8.  Report  on  a  survey  of  the  administration  of  public 
service  functions  relating  to  regulation  and  super- 
vision of  labor. 

No.  9.  Report  on  a  survey  of  the  Department  of  game  and 
fish. 

No.  ii.  Report  on  a  survey  of  the  Office  of  the  state  inspector 
of  oils. 

No.  13.  Report  on  the  revenue  system  of  the  state  of  Colorado ; 
criticism  and  suggestions  [by  R.  M.  Haig]. 

No.  16.  Report  on  care  of  dependents,  delinquents  and  defec- 
tives including  reports  on  The  care  and  treatment 
of  the  insane  of  Colorado,  by  S.  W.  Hamilton; 
A  study  of  the  mental  condition  of  the  four  Colo- 
rado institutions  for  minors,  by  W.  S.  Treadway; 
The  management  of  three  Colorado  institutions  for 
minors,  by  Alexander  Johnson;  The  State  board  of 
charities  and  corrections,  by  Alexander  Johnson. 

No.  18.  Summary  of  findings  and  recommendation  relating  to 
the  executive  branch  of  the  state  government  of 
Colorado  as  submitted  to  the  Survey  committee  of 
state  affairs  of  Colorado  by  its  staff.  Dec.,  1916. 
48  p. 
Draft  of  a  proposed  highway  law  for  Colorado  prepared  under 

the    direction    of    the    Survey    committee  .  .  .  [Denver,    1916?] 

23  P- 

The  work  of  the  Colorado  tax  commission.  A  report  prepared  for 
the  Survey  committee  of  state  affairs,  state  of  Colorado,  by 
Robert  Murray  Haig  .  .  .  with  letter  of  comment  by  Edwin  R. 
A.  Seligman  .  .  .  n.  p.,  1916.  54  p. 

Virginia:  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency.  An 
act  approved  March  16,  1916,  provided  for  the  appointment 
of  a  commission  to  be  composed  of  a  member  of  the  Senate, 

154 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

two  members  of  the  House  of  Delegates  and  two  citizens  to 
be  appointed  by  the  Governor,  which  should  be  charged  with 
"the  duty  of  making  a  careful  and  detailed  study  of  the  or- 
ganization and  methods  of  the  State  and  local  governments 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  and  with  reporting  to  the 
next  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  in  what  way  the  state  and 
local  governments  can  be  more  efficiently  and  economically 
administered." 

This  commission,  though  it  had  but  a  short  time  in  which 
to  make  its  investigations  and  had  at  its  disposal  only  the 
small  sum  of  $1,000,  submitted  to  the  legislature  on  January 
9,  1918,  an  unusually  able  report.  This  report  does  two 
things :  it  furnishes,  through  the  use  of  outlines  and  charts, 
a  comprehensive  picture  of  the  organization  of  the  state  gov- 
ernment, and  sets  forth  in  succinct  form  its  recommendations 
of  the  steps  to  be  taken  to  improve  the  administration  of  public 
affairs. 

The  first  of  these,  the  report  points  out,  reveals  at  a  glance 
"the  administrative  weaknesses  of  our  constitutional  form  of 
government.  Authority  and  responsibility  are  diffused  instead 
of  being  placed  where  a  definite  official  can  be  held  to  account 
for  the  administration  of  the  state's  affairs.  The  people  elect 
a  group  of  purely  administrative  officers  who  are  responsible 
in  actual  practice  to  no  one,  these  officials  being  accountable 
in  the  same  way  the  Governor  is,  but  are  not  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  the  average  citizen  for  him  even  to  remember  the 
name  of  the  official  two  weeks  after  the  elections.  Another 
group  of  similar  officials  are  elected  by  the  General  Assembly. 
There  are  next  a  vast  variety  of  offices,  some  of  a  purely  local 
character,  that  are  filled  by  the  Governor.  Numerous  special 
boards,  commissions,  bureaus  and  other  agencies,  some  exer- 
cising large  powers,  are  tacked  on  here  and  there  to  our  gov- 
ernmental structure,  and  duplication  of  functions  and  over- 
lapping of  work  and  powers  occur  in  many  instances." 

Centering  its  attention  on  the  more  important  causes  of 
the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  affairs  which  it  found,  the  com- 
mission adverted  first  of  all  to  the  manner  or  method  by 
which  the  administrative  system  had  been  built  up.  "A  large 
number  of  departments,  bureaus,  or  other  agencies  have  been 

155 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

added  to  the  constitutional  structure  from  time  to  time  with- 
out regard  to  functional  relation  to  existing  agencies.  No  at- 
tempt has  been  made  to  coordinate  functions,  make  adjust- 
ments, nor  establish  proper  executive  control." 

The  commission,  therefore,  strongly  urged  an  increase  in 
the  controlling  powers  of  the  Governor,  making  him  in  fact 
the  effective  head  of  the  administrative  service. 

A  better  supervision  and  standardization  of  accounts,  the 
abolition  of  fees,  collective  purchasing,  self-insurance  of  state 
buildings,  and  centralization  of  educational  control  were 
among  the  other  recommendations  of  the  commission. 

As  in  the  case  of  most  of  the  state  commissions  of  economy 
and  efficiency,  first  place,  however,  was  given  to  the  recommen- 
dation for  the  adoption  by  the  state  of  a  proper  budget  sys- 
tem. After  a  study  of  the  budgetary  legislation  of  all  the 
other  states,  the  commission  prepared  the  draft  of  a  bill  pro- 
viding for  such  a  system  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  it 
unanimously  adopted  by  the  legislature  without  change.  This 
result  was  in  no  small  degree  due  to  the  strong  support  given 
to  the  bill  by  the  Governor,  Hon.  Westmoreland  Davis,  who, 
indeed,  had  made  his  campaign  for  election  on  this  issue. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  to  the  General 
assembly,  January  9,   1918.     [Richmond,  Richmond  press,   inc., 
printers.    1918.]    67  p.    3  fold,  diagrs. 
Contents. 

General  plan  of  work. 

Outline  of  the  functional  organization  of  the  state  government. 

Organization  of  the  legislative  department  [with  chart]. 

Organization  of  the  judiciary  department  [with  chart]. 

General  outline  of  the  organization  of  the  executive  depart- 
ment [with  chart]. 

Budget  system. 

Supervision  of  accounts. 

Standardization  of  expense  accounts. 

Uniform  fiscal  year. 

Abolition  of  fees. 

Uniform  office  hours. 

Leave  of  absence. 

Special  attorneys  and  inspectors. 

Location  of  offices. 

Public  buildings  and  grounds. 

Collective  purchasing. 

State  insurance. 

156 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

Civil  service. 

Study  of  the  public  school  system  of  Virginia. 

Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency. 

Louisiana:  Board  of  State  Affairs.  On  July  5,  1916,  Louisi- 
ana passed  an  act  providing  for  the  creation  of  a  body  to  be 
known  as  the  Board  of  State  Affairs.  Though  this  board  was 
created  in  the  first  instance  to  take  over  the  duties  of  the  State 
Board  of  Appraisers  and  the  State  Board  of  Equalization, 
which  were  abolished,  it  had  conferred  upon  it  new  powers 
which,  in  effect,  made  of  it  an  official  economy  and  efficiency 
board  with  the  duty  of  investigating  and  submitting  recom- 
mendations regarding  the  organization  and  administration  of 
all  government  departments  vand  institutions,  and  also  a 
budgetary  organ  with  the  duty  of  preparing  the  budget  of 
revenues  and  expenditures  for  consideration  by  the  legislature. 
It  is  composed  of  three  members  appointed  by  the  Governor, 
by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  for  a  term 
of  six  years. 

The  statute  creating  this  board,  in  addition,  as  above  stated, 
to  making  it  the  organ  for  formulating  the  budget,  declares 
that  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  board : 

(1)  To  investigate  duplication  of  work  of  public  bodies, 
the  efficiency  of  the  organization  and  administration  of  such 
public  bodies  and  to  formulate  and  recommend  to  the  General 
Assembly  plans  for  the  greater  coordination  of  such  public 
bodies  and  the  improvement  of  state  administration  in  general. 

(2)  To  investigate  the  feasibility  of  a  central  Board  of 
Control  for  all  public  educational  institutions,  the  same  for  all 
public  charitable  and  eleemosynary  institutions ;  with  particular 
respect  to  the  business  administration  of  such  institutions. 

(3)  To    investigate    the    efficiency    and    cost    of    state 
printing. 

(4)  To  investigate  and  report  upon  the   feasibility  of 
establishing  a  central  purchasing,  sales  and  exchange  bureau, 
under  the  control  and  direction  of  this  Board,  for  the  purpose 
of  purchasing  all  supplies  and  materials  for  and  selling  or 
exchanging  all  the  products  of,  such  public  bodies. 

(5)  To  investigate  other  matters    for  the  purpose   of 
bringing  about  greater  efficiency  and  economy  in  every  public 

157 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

body  advancing  the  economic  betterment  of  the  state,  and  of 
promoting  the  public  welfare. 

The  results  of  the  investigations  herein  required  shall  be 
printed  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  members  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  and  the  heads  of  all  public  departments  and 
public  institutions  at  least  sixty  (60)  days  before  the  meeting 
of  said  General  Assembly  in  1918;  and,  at  the  discretion  of 
the  Board,  such  reports  shall  be  biennially  made  thereafter. 

PUBLICATIONS 

First  annual  report  of  the  Board  of  state  affairs  .  .  .  for  the  year 
1917.    April  15,  1918.     Baton  Rouge,  1918.     366  p. 
Bound   with   this:     Legislative   recommendations   made   by   the 
Board  of  state  affairs  to  the  General  assembly  of  Louisiana 
for  the  regular  session  of  1918.    Baton  Rouge,  1918.    37  p. 

Texas:  Joint  Legislative  Investigating  Committee.  In 
1917  the  two  houses  of  the  legislature  of  Texas,  by  separate 
resolutions,  provided  for  the  creation  of  committees  of  three 
members  each  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  of  all  the 
departments  of  the  government  and  state  institutions  and  to 
report  their  findings  with  recommendations.  These  two  com- 
mittees, which  met  as  a  joint  legislative  committee,  made 
their  inquiries  in  conjunction  with  each  other  and  sub- 
mitted on  February  i,  1918,  a  joint  report  to  the  two  houses. 
In  this  report  each  department  and  state  institution  is  con- 
sidered in  turn.  In  the  case  of  practically  all  they  found 
room  for  great  improvement,  and  radical  measures  of  reform 
were  submitted.  The  report  estimated  that  if  its  recommen- 
dations were  adopted  a  saving  of  nearly  a  million  dollars  an- 
nually would  be  secured. 

In  prosecuting  its  inquiries  the  legislative  committee  made 
use  of  ten  subcommittees.  It  is  reported  that  the  reports  of 
these  subcommittees,  which  make  a  more  detailed  showing  of 
conditions  than  does  the  report  of  the  parent  committee,  are 
in  process  of  being  printed  and  will  shortly  be  available  for 
distribution. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Senate  and  the  Central  executive 
committee  of  the  House  of  representatives,  composing  a  legisla- 
tive committee  to  investigate  the  departments  of  the  state  gov- 

158 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

ernment  and  the  state  institutions  .  .  .  Feb.   i,   1918.     [Austin, 

1918.]     58  p. 

Published  also  in  [Texas]  House  journal,  March  n,  1918,  p. 
261-91,  with  title:  Joint  report  of  central  investigating  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  representatives 
of  the  Thirty-fifth  legislature. 

Oregon:  Consolidation  Commission.  Under  a  resolution 
enacted  by  the  legislature  of  Oregon  in  1917  there  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor  a  Consolidation  Commission  com- 
posed of  seven  business  men  for  the  purpose  of  conducting 
''thorough  investigation  of  the  several  offices,  boards,  commis- 
sions and  departments  of  the  state  as  to  the  scope,  nature  and 
importance  of  the  different  branches  of  the  work  performed 
by  each,  and  that  the  above  mentioned  commission  be  required 
to  make  a  complete  and  comprehensive  report  of  its  findings, 
together  with  such  recommendations  as  to  consolidation,  econ- 
omy and  efficiency,  as  they  may  find  feasible,  to  the  next  reg- 
ular session  of  the  legislative  assembly."  The  commission 
employed  an  expert  to  make  the  actual  investigation  of  the 
administrative  departments  and  to  formulate  its  report.  The 
commission  found  that  no  efficient  and  businesslike  adminis- 
tration of  state  affairs  in  Oregon  could  be  expected  unless  some 
one  officer,  who  should  be  fully  responsible  to  the  people,  could 
control  all  the  important  departments  of  the  administration. 
It  was  held  that  the  Governor  was  the  logical  officer  to  fill  this 
position,  but  he  did  not  do  so  under  existing  conditions  be- 
cause, in  the  first  place,  the  administration  was  split  up  into 
too  many  departments  for  the  Governor  to  exercise  adequate 
control  over  them,  and,  in  the  second  place,  there  were  too 
many  elective  officers,  with  the  result  that  there  were  in  reality 
many  governors  in  the  state  instead  of  one.  In  order  to  rem- 
edy the  first  of  these  difficulties,  the  commission  recommended 
that  the  separate  administrative  agencies,  of  which  there  were 
about  seventy  which  had  been  created  by  the  legislature  from 
time  to  time  without  system  or  coordination,  should  be  con- 
solidated into  eleven  main  departments,  which  should  include 
all  such  agencies  with  the  exception  of  the  proposed  state 
civil  service  commission  and  the  state  police.  In  order  to 
remedy  the  second  of  these  difficulties,  the  commission  recom- 
mended that,  in  so  far  as  feasible  within  the  limits  of  the  con- 

159 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

stitution,  the  short  ballot  should  be  introduced  through  the 
elimination  of  unnecessary  elective  officers. 

One  of  the  most  pressing  problems  in  Oregon  for  some 
time  has  been  that  of  the  proper  organization  of  state  control 
over  its  institutions  of  higher  education.  The  State  Univer- 
sity, the  State  Agricultural  College  and  the  State  Normal 
School  are  located  at  different  places  in  the  state,  the  situation 
in  this  respect  being  similar  to  that  in  Iowa.  The  question  has 
been  whether  to  continue  the  separate  boards  or  to  consolidate 
the  institutions  under  the  control  of  a  single  board.  The 
report  of  the  commission,  as  formulated  by  its  expert,  recom- 
mended that  what  was  called  the  ' 'three-in-one  plan"  should 
be  introduced  as  a  compromise,  whereby  there  should  be  a 
state  board  of  education  of  nine  members,  to  be  composed 
of  three  institutional  committees  of  three  members  each,  one 
committee  for  each  of  the  three  institutions.  These  commit- 
tees were  to  appoint  the  presidents  and  faculties  of  their  re- 
spective institutions  and  to  attend  to  local  and  special  matters, 
while  the  three  committees  together,  composing  the  whole 
state  board  of  education,  were  to  attend  to  matters  affecting 
more  than  one  of  the  institutions,  such  as  formulating  requests 
for  any  appropriations  needed  above  the  proceeds  of  the  mill- 
age  tax  and  taking  over  the  functions  of  the  Board  of  Higher 
Curricula  in  eliminating,  so  far  as  possible,  duplication  of 
work  among  the  several  higher  educational  institutions. 

The  commission  also  recommended  the  adoption  of  an 
executive  budget  system.  Its  recommendations  on  this  head 
were  as  follows : 

There  should  be  concentrated  responsibility  for  the  esti- 
mates, and  this  can  properly  be  assumed  only  by  the  governor, 
as  the  head  of  the  administration.  It  is,  therefore,  recom- 
mended that  the  preparation  of  the  budget  and  its  transmission 
to  the  legislature  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  governor,  or  in 
those  of  some  officer  appointed  by  him,  and  subject  to  his 
supervision  and  control.  If  the  governor  is  to  be  required  to 
assume  the  responsibility  for  the  estimates  in  the  budget,  it 
follows  as  a  logical  corollary,  that  he  must  be  provided  with 
adequate  means  for  scrutinizing  the  estimates  as  they  come  to 
him  from  the  heads  of  departments,  and  for  giving  them  study 
and  criticism,  so  as  to  prune  them  to  the  proper  proportions 

1 60 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  OFFICIAL 

in  view  of  the  general  financial  condition  of  the  state.  It  is 
recommended  that  the  state  tax  commissioner,  who  is  an  ap- 
pointee of  the  governor  and  subject  to  his  control,  should  be 
entrusted  with  the  preparation  of  the  budget  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  governor.  The  tax  commissioner  should  be  fur- 
nished with  the  necessary  clerical  assistance  in  compiling  the 
estimates.  When  finished,  however,  the  budget  should  be 
transmitted  to  the  legislature  with  the  authority  of  the  gov- 
ernor behind  it. 

Other  States.  As  has  already  been  stated,  the  legislatures  of 
the  several  states  are  all  the  time  creating  special  committees 
to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  work  of  particular  depart- 
ments of  the  government  and  state  institutions.  It  is  mani- 
festly impracticable,  even  to  Hst,  and  much  less  to  describe, 
the  work  of  all  of  such  committees.  Mention  might,  however, 
be  made  of  the  following  committees,  the  appointment  of 
which  has  come  to  the  attention  of  the  author  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  report. 

The  legislature  of  South  Dakota  provided  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  Joint  Committee  on  Investigation  of  State  Ex- 
penditures and  the  System  of  Accounting  and  Reporting.  The 
report  of  this  committee  was  made  in  1915  and  was  published 
in  the  Journal  of  the  House,  February  25,  1915. 

Mississippi  provided  for  a  joint  committee  of  the  two 
houses  of  the  legislature  to  investigate  its  several  adminis- 
trative departments  and  state  institutions,  the  report  of  which 
was  published  in  1913  in  a  pamphlet  of  132  pages. 

The  Ohio  legislature  in  1915  provided  for  a  similar  com- 
mittee to  investigate  state  departments  and  institutions,  the 
report  of  which  was  published  in  Volume  V  of  the  Senate 
Journal,  1915. 


161 


CHAPTER    IV 

AGENCIES  FOR  INVESTIGATING  THE  ADMINIS- 
TRATION OF  PARTICULAR  STATES  :  UNOFFICIAL 

Comparatively  little  progress  has  been  made  in  the  way  of 
the  establishment  under  unofficial  auspices  of  institutions  hav- 
ing for  their  sole  purpose  the  promotion  of  efficient  state  ad- 
ministration. There  is,  in  fact,  no  institution  coming  properly 
under  this  head.  The  two  agencies  described  in  the  subse- 
quent paragraphs  of  this  chapter  are  included  merely  be- 
cause of  their  close  relation  to  the  problem  of  state  adminis- 
tration. One  concerns  itself  chiefly  with  matters  of  legislation ; 
the  other  was  a  temporary  body  created  to  investigate  the 
problem  of  budget  reform. 

In  the  succeeding  chapter,  however,  account  is  given  of 
two  agencies  which  attempt  to  occupy  the  field  of  state  and 
municipal  administration  simultaneously.  In  addition,  note 
should  be  taken  of  the  fact  that  some  bureaus  of  municipal 
research,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  have  been  established 
primarily  for  the  purpose  of  improving  methods  of  adminis- 
tration of  particular  cities,  have  concerned  themselves  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  with  matters  of  state  administration. 
This  is  particularly  true  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Munici- 
pal Research,  whose  activities  in  this  field  have  been  very  im- 
portant. 

New  Jersey :  Bureau  of  State  Research,  State  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  The  State  Chamber  of  Commerce,  organized 
in  1912,  has  for  its  primary  object  to  provide  its  members  and 
the  citizens  of  New  Jersey  with  facts  affecting  the  public  wel- 
fare. 

The  membership  consists  of  two  classes  of  individual  mem- 
bers, sustaining  and  associate,  limited  in  number,  and  dis- 

162 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES :  UNOFFICIAL 

tributed  over  the  state  according  to  population  as  apportioned 
by  the  congressional  district.  The  number  eligible  to  each 
class  of  membership  is  determined  by  the  fixed  ratio  of  one 
member  to  five  thousand  population.  Civic,  commercial  or 
agricultural  associations  of  New  Jersey  may  become  affiliated 
in  the  chamber  as  federated  members.  The  annual  dues  of 
sustaining  members  are  $100  and  of  associate  members  $25. 
Its  headquarters  are  at  Newark. 

In  1915  the  Bureau  of  State  Research  was  organized  as  a 
separate  department  of  the  chamber  and  given  primary  charge 
of  investigations  and  the  collection  of  information.  It  has 
a  director,  an  advisory  committee,  a  secretary,  and  a  staff 
of  trained  investigators. 

The  work  of  the  bureau  has  consisted,  in  the  main,  of  pub- 
lishing a  weekly  Legislative  Index  during  the  annual  session 
of  the  legislature,  supplying  special  legislative  service,  analyz- 
ing bills,  and  conducting  legislative  investigations  throughout 
the  year. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  Legislative  Index,  expert  inves- 
tigators are  in  attendance  at  Trenton  and  report  the  proced- 
ure of  all  sessions  of  the  legislature.  The  reports  of  these 
investigators  are  published  each  week  in  the  form  of  brief 
digests  of  the  contents  of  each  bill  introduced,  and  a  record 
of  each  step  of  its  progress,  and  a  current  subject  index  of 
these  bills  are  kept.  The  Legislative  Index  also  contains  each 
week  an  analysis  of  some  one  or  more  of  the  important  meas- 
ures before  the  legislators.  The  Legislative  Index  thus  serves 
as  a  medium  by  which  citizens  can  watch  legislation. 

In  addition  to  the  information  contained  in  the  weekly 
Legislative  Index,  a  daily  service  is  furnished  to  a  number  of 
civic  organizations  and  individuals  throughout  the  state, 
whereby  information  is  given  on  form  cards  from  day  to  day 
of  the  progress  of  measures  in  which  the  recipients  are  par- 
ticularly interested.  These  cards  are  marked  and  mailed  to 
the  recipients  direct  from  Trenton  by  the  bureau's  investiga- 
tors in  attendance  at  the  meetings  of  the  legislature.  In  some 
instances  this  information  is  conveyed  by  telephone. 

Investigations  are  made  by  the  bureau  from  time  to  time 
of  as  many  subjects  awaiting  study  as  can  be  handled.  These 

163 ' 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

investigations  are  intended  to  bring  out  such  facts  as  will  es- 
tablish bases  upon  which  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  can 
make  recommendations  to  the  legislature.  The  regular  pro- 
gram of  investigations  of  the  bureau  is  determined  each  year 
by  the  trustees  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Since  its  organization  the  subjects  of  investigation  by  the 
bureau  have  been :  the  state  rural  police  patrol,  corporation 
audits,  the  state  budget,  the  Torrens  system,  workmen's  com- 
pensation, the  "full-crew"  law,  and  good  roads. 

A  bill  designed  to  create  a  state  police  in  New  Jersey  sim- 
ilar in  character  to  that  which  has  existed  in  Pennsylvania 
since  1905  was  introducted  at  the  legislative  session  in  1914 
and  again  in  1915.  To  supply  the  information  necessary  to 
act  intelligently  upon  this  proposed  legislation,  statistical  data 
were  tabulated  by  the  bureau,  showing  the  prevalent  crimes 
in  each  county  and  the  number  of  unapprehended  criminals, 
the  opinions  of  the  prosecutors  of  the  pleas,  the  sheriffs  and 
the  granges,  and  a  record  was  made  of  the  causes  and  extent 
of  forest  fires,  so  that  a  complete  analysis  for  the  entire  state 
could  be  made  of  the  existing  need,  if  any,  for  a  rural  patrol. 

In  view  of  proposed  legislation  designed  to  protect  in- 
vestors in  the  securities  of  New  Jersey  corporations  by  re- 
quiring the  regular  examination  of  the  books  of  all  corpora- 
tions by  certified  public  accountants,  to  be  elected  by  the 
stockholders,  a  study  was  made  by  the  bureau  of  this  entire 
subject,  and  it  was  found  that  any  legislation  of  this  charac- 
ter would  conflict  at  so  many  points  with  the  existing  stat- 
utes that  it  would  be  advisable  to  make  a  complete  investiga- 
tion of  the  present  control  and  regulation  of  New  Jersey  cor- 
porations before  introducing  any  new  elements  of  uncertainty 
into  an  already  complicated  situation. 

To  facilitate  the  practical  operation  of  the  budget  system 
which  was  provided  for  by  law  in  1915,'  and  to  eliminate  many 
evils  of  the  old  system,  the  bureau  has  tabulated  the  itemized 
appropriations  of  1914,  1915,  and  1916  in  order  to  show  the 
variations  which  occur  from  year  to  year  in  the  distribution 
of  the  state's  revenue.  The  State  Chamber,  by  calling  at- 
tention to  New  Jersey's  antiquated  fiscal  procedure  through 
its  publications  and  the  daily  press,  has  been  instrumental  in 

164 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES :  UNOFFICIAL 

creating  a  state-wide  sentiment  for  this  advanced  piece  of 
financial  legislation. 

At  the  request  of  the  Real  Estate  Board  and  the  Building- 
Loan  League  the  bureau  made  an  analysis  of  a  bill  which 
would  allow  any  New  Jersey  owner  the  option  of  register- 
ing his  title  under  a  Torrens  law.  This  analysis  was  ac- 
companied by  a  brief  history  of  the  Torrens  Acts  and  a 
resume  of  the  decisions  of  the  courts  on  their  constitutional- 
ity in  the  several  states. 

The  matter  of  workmen's  compensation  had  the  attention 
of  the  state  of  New  Jersey  for  several  years,  and  the  State 
Chamber  gathered  facts  pertinent  to  a  complete  and  unbiased 
consideration  of  the  question. 

The  State  Chamber  has  conducted  a  thorough  investiga- 
tion of  the  operation  of  the  "full-crew"  legislation,  with  par- 
ticular reference  to  the  law  in  New  Jersey. 

The  State  Chamber  is  endeavoring  to  find  out  the  exact 
road  conditions  brought  about  by  modern  conditions  in  order 
to  recommend  to  the  legislature  an  efficient  road  policy. 

The  New  Jersey  Chamber  of  Commerce  issues  a  weekly 
bulletin,  a  feature  of  which  is  the  Legislative  Index  above 
mentioned.  It  has  issued  several  printed  reports  of  investi- 
gations and  pamphlets  and  folders  explaining  its  work. 

PUBLICATIONS 

State   research  .  .  .  Consecutive  numbers. 
Contents 
No.     i.    The   administration   of   the   full-crew   law,   etc.,    1917. 

I31?- 

No.     2.     The  state  police  problem  in  America.     1917.    210  p. 

No.    3.     The  New  York  state  troopers.     Oct.   1917. 

No.  4.  The  operation  of  the  New  Jersey  budget  law.  Oct. 
1917. 

No.     5.     [State  officials.]     Nov.  1917. 

No.     6.     The  Pennsylvania  state  police.     Nov.  1917. 

No.     7.     Unknown. 

No.  8.  Report  of  the  pension  and  retirement  fund  commission. 
Dec.  1917. 

No.     9.     Why  New  Jersey  needs  a  state  police.     Dec.  1917. 

No.  10.  Teachers'  retirement  systems  in  New  Jersey,  their  fal- 
lacies and  evolution.  Introduction  and  part  I.  Feb. 
1918. 

No.  ii.  Police,  firemen's  and  other  local  employees'  pension 
systems  in  New  Jersey.  Feb.  1918. 

165 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Legislative  and  investigative  work  completed  and  planned,   1916. 
A  state  highway  system  versus  old  laws  and  good  roads.    July,  1916. 
16  p. 

Maryland :  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency.  The 
Maryland  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency  was  of  a 
unique  character  due  to  the  unusual  circumstances  under 
which  it  was  created.  Both  the  Democratic  and  Republican 
parties  in  their  campaign  of  1915  pledged  themselves  to  sup- 
port the  introduction  of  a  budget  system  for  the  state.  The 
Democratic  Convention,  however,  went  further  than  this,  and 
provided  for  the  creation  of  a  Commission  on  Economy  and 
Efficiency  which  should  have  as  its  special  work  the  devising 
of  a  specific  proposal  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  reform. 
This  commission  was  duly  constituted  with  President  Frank 
J..Goodnow  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  as  its  chairman. 
This  commission  made  a  brief  but  exceptionally  able  re- 
port which  the  Democratic  Governor,  Emerson  C.  Harring- 
ton, transmitted  to  the  Senate,  recommending  favorable  ac- 
tion upon  its  recommendations.  The  report  though  emanat- 
ing from  a  private  body  was  thus  published  as  a  public  docu- 
ment. This  report  led  to  the  adoption  by  Maryland  of  an 
amendment  to  the  state  constitution  providing  for  the  intro- 
duction of  a  budget  system. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  efficiency  on  a  budget 
system.    Jan.  28,  1916.     (In  Baltimore.    Dept.  of  legislative  ref- 
erence.    The  Maryland  budget  amendment.     1917.     p.  7-13.) 
Reprinted  from  the  Maryland  Senate  Journal,  Jan.  28,  1916,  p. 
129-34. 

Other  States.  The  foregoing  it  is  believed  represent  all  agen- 
cies which  have  been  created  by  private  effort  having  for  their 
principal  purpose  the  study  of  the  problem  of  state  admin- 
istration with  a  view  to  the  promotion  of  measures  of  reform. 
Other  privately  organized  bodies,  however,  give  more  or  less 
attention  to  this  subject.  Among  these  special  mention,  by 
way  of  illustration,  might  be  made  of  the  Taxpayers  Associa- 
tions of  California  and  New  Mexico. 


166 


CHAPTER  V 

AGENCIES  FOR  INVESTIGATING  THE  STATE  AND 

LOCAL  ADMINISTRATION  OF  PARTICULAR 

STATES :  UNOFFICIAL 

In  two  states — Ohio  and  Maryland — unofficial  agencies 
have  been  created  for  the  study  of  both  the  administration 
of  state  and  local  affairs  in  those  states.  This  type  of  unof- 
ficial organization  is  of  especial  interest  in  that  no  official 
agency  of  the  same  scope  has  been  established  by  any  .state; 
although  as  will  be  set  forth  in  a  subsequent  section  official 
reference  services  covering  both  the  state  and  municipal  field 
have  been  established  in  several  states. 

Ohio:  Institute  for  Public  Efficiency.  The  Ohio  Institute 
for  Public  Efficiency  was  incorporated  in  1913  and  began 
operations  in  January,  1914.  The  governing  body  of  the  in- 
stitute is  a  board  of  nine  trustees.  Its  headquarters  are  at 
Columbus. 

The  work  done  for  state  administration  and  legislation  is 
supported  by  contributions  of  public-spirited  citizens  and  or- 
ganizations ;  work  done  for  counties,  municipalities  and  school 
districts  is  paid  for  by  local  authorities,  organizations  or  in- 
dividuals. The  purpose  of  the  organization,  as  stated  in 
its  articles  of  incorporation,  is :  "To  advance  public  welfare 
( i )  by  promoting  the  efficiency  and  adequacy  of  government, 
through  the  ascertainment  and  application  of  scientific  stand- 
ards and  principles  and  otherwise;  (2)  by  continually  and 
systematically  informing  public  opinion  upon  public  affairs; 
(3)  by  promoting  the  cooperation,  coordination  and  efficiency 
of  civil,  social,  and  charitable  organizations;  (4)  by  educat- 
ing persons  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  public  efficiency  and 
preparing  them  for  efficient  public  service;  and  by  any  other 
means  that  may  be  deemed  proper  and  necessary." 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Two  departments  have  been  organized,  namely,  the  Ac- 
counting and  the  Social  Service  Departments,  eaeh  in  charge 
of  a  director. 

The  Accounting  Department  devotes  its  principal  efforts 
to  perfecting  and  installing  efficient  accounting,  budget,  pur- 
chasing methods,  etc. 

The  object  of  the  Social  Service  Department  is  the  "pro- 
motion of  a  program  for  Ohio  leading  to :  ( i )  ultimate  elim- 
ination, as  far  as  possible,  of  dependency  and  delinquency  as 
forms  of  social  waste;  and  (2)  the  establishment  of  progres- 
sively higher  standards  of  living."  This  is  done  by  "investi- 
gation of  conditions  underlying  and  causing  dependency,  de- 
linquency, and  low  standards  of  living;  framing  and  promot- 
ing measures  for  the  removal  of  such  causes;  and  promoting 
efficiency  of  administration  in  public  and  private  institutions, 
departments,  and  agencies  which  affect  social  conditions." 

The  most  important  items  of  work  done  by  the  institute 
since  its  organization,  either  under  engagement  for  local  civic 
and  social  organizations,  or  directly  upon  its  own  responsibil- 
ity, have  been  as  follows: 

With  the  cooperation  of  the  county  auditor  and  treasurer, 
a  study  was  made  of  the  Cuyahoga  County  accounting  methods 
for  the  Cleveland  Civic  League,  and  recommendations  for  an 
improved  system  were  presented. 

An  analysis  of  the  financial  conditions  and  a  review  of 
the  general  organization  and  methods  of  the  Cleveland  As- 
sociated Charities  were  made  for  that  organization  and  the 
Cleveland  Federation  for  Charity  and  Philanthropy.  Recom- 
mendations relating  to  accounting  and  reporting  methods  were 
approved  and  adopted. 

An  improved  general  municipal  accounting  system  was 
outlined  for  Akron,  Columbus  and  Toledo.  Based  on  this 
outline,  a  procedure  using  recent  labor-saving  devices  was  in- 
stalled by  the  institute  in  Akron  in  behalf  of  the  Akron  Bu- 
reau of  Municipal  Research.  A  longhand  procedure  worked 
out  by  the  State  Bureau  of  Accounting  was  installed  by  it  in 
Columbus  and  Toledo. 

New  budget  estimate  methods  were  prepared  for  Columbus 
and  Toledo,  which  were  substantially  adopted. 

168 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  UNOFFICIAL 

Extensive  cooperation  was  afforded  the  State  Bureau  of 
Accounting  in  the  preparation  of  a  new  standardized  clas- 
sification of  expenditures,  adapted  for  use  by  state  depart- 
ments, cities,  counties,  school  districts  and  townships.  The 
elasticity  of  this  classification  enables  it  to  be  contracted  or 
expanded  according  to  the  needs  of  the  governmental  unit 
classifying  it.  The  new  classification  is  now  in  use  in  three 
cities  and  one  school  district  and  is  to  be  promulgated  for 
all  Ohio  cities. 

The  principal  features  of  centralized  purchasing  proced- 
ure were  outlined  and  submitted  to  the  new  central  purchas- 
ing departments  created  by  charter  in  Columbus  and  Toledo. 

An  analysis  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  city  of  Toledo 
was  prepared  for,  and  published  by,  the  Toledo  Commerce 
Club.  A  similar  analysis  for  Columbus  was  published  by  the 
Columbus  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research. 

A  recommendation  for  a  more  definite  policy  in  munici- 
pal electric  light  plant  expenditures  in  Columbus  was  sup- 
ported by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  acted  upon  favor- 
ably by  the  city  council. 

A  recommendation  was  made  to,  and  approved  by,  the 
Columbus  City  Council,  for  doing  away  with  unnecessary 
surety  bonds. 

A  study  of  certain  phases  of  public  school  policy  was  made 
for  the  Columbus  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

City  charter  studies  were  made  for  the  Cincinnati  Bureau 
of  Municipal  Research. 

An  analysis  was  made  for  the  Marion  Township  Manu- 
facturers Association  of  the  causes  for  the  marked  increase 
in  the  tax  rate  in  that  township. 

With  the  cooperation  of  the  state  librarian  and  his  staff, 
a  study  was  made  and  submitted  of  the  functions,  organiza- 
tion, and  procedure  of  the  state  library. 

A  clearing  house  has  been  organized  for  information  con- 
cerning current  civic  and  social  activities  in  Ohio. 

As  indicated  above,  the  services  of  the  institute  have  been 
employed  by  the  following  organizations :  The  Civic  League 
of  Cleveland,  the  Cleveland  Federation  for  Charities  and 
Philanthropy,  the  Cleveland  Associated  Charities,  the  Toledo 

169 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Commerce  Club,  the  Columbus  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the 
Columbus  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  the  Cincinnati  Bu- 
reau of  Municipal  Research,  the  Marion  Township  Manufac- 
turers Association,  and  the  Akron  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search. 

The  institute  in  the  course  of  its  work  has  met  with  the  co- 
operation of  most  of  the  public  officials  with  whom  it  has 
had  to  do,  and  a  number  of  its  recommendations  have  been 
approved  and  acted  upon. 

Through  the  Department  of  Social  Service,  whose  opera- 
tions began  July  i,  1916,  the  institute  initiated  a  campaign 
for  the  more  adequate  care  of  the  feeble-minded  and  pre- 
ventive control  of  f eeble-mindedness ;  conducted  a  study  of 
the  local  conditions  of  Portsmouth,  Ohio,  and  made  recom- 
mendations with  respect  to  charitable  relief,  delinquency, 
housing  and  health;  and,  in  cooperation  with  the  Industrial 
Commission,  prepared  bills  and  urged  legislation  to  regulate 
more  satisfactorily  the  private  labor  agencies  and  prohibit 
job  selling  in  industrial  establishments. 

PUBLICATIONS 

First  annual  report  of  the  Ohio  institute  for  public  efficiency  for  the 

year  ending  October  31,  1914.     (typewritten).    6  p. 
Second   annual   report  .  .  .  for   the   year   ending   October    31,    1915. 

.  [5l   P- 

Third  annual  report  .  .  .  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1916.    14  p. 
Fourth  annual  report  .  .  .  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1917.    15  p. 
Financial  statement  as  at  October  31,  1916.     Folder. 
Social   legislation    enacted   by   the    eighty-second    General    assembly 

of  Ohio.    April,  1917.     [5]  p. 
Accounting  program. 
Social  service  program. 
Toledo  city  finance. 

[Leaflets  relating  to  mental  defect  as  cause  of  dependency  and  de- 
linquency.] 

For  example. 

Mental  disorders. 

Ohio's  80  per  cent  deficit. 

Speaking  of  economy — look  at  Anne's  board  bill. 

Three  generations. 

Too  many  husbands  to  remember. 

ARTICLES 

Croxton,  Fred  C.  The  Ohio  institute  for  public  efficiency,  its  rela- 
tion to  health  departments.  Other  public  health  journal,  Feb., 
1917,  v.  8:  73-75. 

170 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  STATES,  UNOFFICIAL 

Miles,    Rufus   E.     The   Ohio   institute    for   public   efficiency.      1916. 
12  p. 

Reprinted  from  "Citizen  agencies  for  research  in  government," 
the  issue  of  Municipal  research,  No.  77,  for  Sept.,  1916. 

Social  community  planning  for  Ohio.     Survey,  July  15, 

1916,  v.  36:  413. 

Maryland :  Bureau  of  State  and  Municipal  Research.  The 
Bureau  of  State  and  Municipal  Research,  located  in  Balti- 
more, Maryland,  was  organized  in  the  fall  of  1912.  It  was 
never  incorporated  but  has  conducted  its  work  under  the  im- 
mediate direction  of  the  principal  contributors.  The  organ- 
ization has  followed  the  usual  bureau  methods  and  has  at- 
tempted efficiency  studies  in  connection  with  city  departments 
and  state  institutions.  It  has  also  done  considerable  work 
in  connection  with  investigations  for  local  social  bodies. 

The  scope  of  the  bureau's  activities  is  indicated  by  the 
following  list  of  its  reports. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  No.  I — Baltimore,  1916 — 

No.     i.     The  inspection  of  weights  and  measures  in  Baltimore 

city.     1916.     30  p. 
No.     2.     The   Baltimore  budget. 

Part  I.    A  study  of  the  ordinances  of  estimates  from 

1900  to  1913.    [13]  p. 
No.     3.     The  Business  organization  and  methods  of  Springfield 

state  hospital  for  the  insane.    1913. 
No.     4.     City  of  Baltimore,  balance  sheets  1911,  1912;  General 

accounts  1912,  1913.    13  p. 
No.     5.     Institutional  supplies.     1913.     64  p. 
No.     6.     Accounting    in    the    appeal    tax    court    and    collector's 

office.     1913. 
No.     7.     Business  methods  of  the  Baltimore  police  department. 

1917.    31  p. 
No.     8.     Organization  and  work  of  the  Office  of  the  inspector 

of  buildings.     1913-1914.     2  parts,     ms. 
No.     9.     Accounting  methods  of  Baltimore  city  as  illustrated  in 

the  report  of  the  Comptroller.     113.     ms. 
No.  10.     The  purchase  of  coal  by  institutions.     1914.    66  p. 
No.  ii.     (No  report  issued  having  this  number.) 
No.   12.     Notes  on  duties  of  a  municipal  purchasing  agent.     1915. 
No.  13.     Baltimore  police  department.    Additional  criticisms  and 

recommendations  with  proposed  changes  in  forms, 

records  and  clerical  procedure.     1916.     ms. 
No.  14.     Present  and  proposed  methods  of  handling  records  of 

arrests.     1916.    ms. 
171 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

No.  15.     Part    I.     Districting   of   Baltimore    for   the   work   of 

charitable  institutions. 

Part  II.     The  enumeration  districts.   1917.   19  p.  plates. 
Bureau  of  state  and  municipal  research;  an  organization  devoted  to 
the  promotion  of  efficiency  in  public  business.    Baltimore  [1913]. 
14  p.,  ii. 
Four  years  of  prosperity.    Baltimore  [1917].     [4]  p. 


172 


CHAPTER  VI 

AGENCIES  FOR  STUDYING  MUNICIPAL  ADMINIS- 
TRATION GENERALLY:  UNOFFICIAL 

It  is  a  striking  fact  that  despite  the  interest  which  has 
long  obtained  in  the  problem  of  improving  municipal  admin- 
istration in  this  country,  no  organization  has  yet  been  created 
which  has  for  its  sole  purpose  -the  study  of  that  problem  gen- 
erally, without  special  emphasis  on  the  problems  of  any  par- 
ticular city.  The  agency  of  which  account  is  given  below — 
the  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research — comes  very 
nearly  within  this  description;  but  it  has  hitherto  devoted  so 
much  of  its  attention  to  the  government  of  New  York  City, 
that  the  propriety  of  its  inclusion  under  this  head  is  perhaps 
open  to  a  measure  of  doubt. 

New  York:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  So  important 
is  the  part  which  has  been  played  by  the  New  York  Bureau 
of  Municipal  Research  in  the  development  of  the  govern- 
mental research  movement  in  this  country,  of  which  it  was 
the  pioneer,  that  a  somewhat  full  account  of  its  origin  and 
history  seems  justified. 

The  facts  regarding  the  origin  of  the  bureau  were  set 
forth  in  a  statement  prepared  by  the  bureau  and  filed  with  the 
late  U.  S.  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations  that  was  pre- 
sided over  by  Mr.  Frank  Walsh.  This  statement  in  part 
reads : 

In  its  issue  of  March  u,  1901,  this  [the  idea  of  establish- 
ing a  citizens'  agency  to  cooperate  with  city  officials  in  im- 
proving methods  of  administration]  was  the  subject  of  an 
editorial  in  the  New  York  Tribune  which  was  clipped  by  Mr. 
Frank  Tucker  and  sent  to  Mr.  R.  Fulton  Cutting  as  some- 
thing to  which  he  should  lend  his  support.  Soon  after  this  a 
formal  proposal  to  create  a  bureau  or  department  of  civic 

173 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

affairs  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  was  prepared  by  Mr. 
Tucker,  and  taken  up  by  Mr.  Cutting  with  Mr.  Charles 
Stewart  Smith,  a  prominent  member  of  that  body.  When 
Mr.  William  H.  Allen  came  to  New  York  his  assistance  was 
invited.  While  engaged  professionally  on  work  of  this  kind, 
Mr.  Frederick  A.  Cleveland  became  impressed  with  the  need 
for  an  independent  agency  supported  by  citizens,  which  would 
be  equipped  to  obtain  information  about  the  management  of 
public  affairs,  and  follow  up  and  support  the  constructive 
measures  of  public  offices.  And  when  Mr.  Cleveland  became 
a  member  of  the  Mayor's  advisory  commission  on  finance  and 
taxation  in  January,  1905,  he  actually  employed  an  outside 
staff  in  this  manner. 

In  February,  1905,  Mr.  Cleveland  prepared  a  written  pros- 
pectus for  the  organization  of  a  permanent  "Bureau  of 
Municipal  Research,"  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Tucker,  and 
placed  it  in  Mr.  Allen's  hands,  with  the  understanding  that 
he  would  undertake  to  raise  money  for  it.  This  brief  was 
used  for  some  time  by  Mr.  Allen,  and  several  conferences 
were  arranged  with  professional  and  business  men.  Later  in 
November  with  the  help  of  Mr.  Tucker,  Mr.  Allen  prepared 
a  revised  statement  and  circulated  it  under  the  title  of  "Brief 
for  the  Establishment  of  an  Institute  .for  Municipal  Re- 
search." In  the  latter  part  of  1905  Mr.  Cutting  decided  to 
support  the  effort  at  the  rate  of  $1,000  per  month  for  a  year, 
to  make  an  actual  demonstration  of  what  could  be  done,  and 
with  this  fund  Mr.  Henry  Bruere  was  employed  to  take 
charge  of  it,  tafemg^ver  6nTns  staff  some  of  the  men  who 
had  been  working  with  Mr.  Cleveland.  The  work  was 
financed  by  Mr.  Cutting  and  conducted  by  Mr.  Bruere  as  the 
"Bureau  of  City  Betterment,"  a  branch  of  the  Citizens'  Union, 
of  which  Mr.  Cutting  was  president. 

The  success  achieved  led  to  the  decision  to  incorporate  the 
service  as  an  independent  institution.  The  cooperation  and 
financial  assistance  of  other  men  were  secured  and  the  serv- 
ice was  incorporated  in  May,  1907,  under  its  present  title  of 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  The  membership  of  the  cor- 
poration was  limited  to  fifty  persons,  members  to  be  elected 
by  a  majority  vote  of  the  board  or  of  the  members  at  any 
annual  meeting  or  at  a  special  meeting  called  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  management  of  the  business  affairs  of  the  cor- 


AGENCIES  FOR  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

poration  was  entrusted  to  a  board  of  fifteen  trustees,  elected 
from  the  members  of  the  corporation  at  annual  meetings. 

Mr.  Henry  Bruere  was  selected  as  the  first  director  of  the 
bureau  with  Mr.  Cleveland  and  Mr.  Allen  as  co-directors. 

In  the  articles  of  incorporation  the  purpose  of  the  bureau 
was  set  forth  as  follows : 

To  promote  efficient  and  economical  municipal  govern- 
ment; to  promote  the  adoption  of  scientific  methods  of  ac- 
counting and  of  reporting  the  details  of  municipal  business, 
with  a  view  to  facilitating  the  work  of  public  officials;  to 
secure  constructive  publicity  in  matters  pertaining  to  municipal 
problems ;  and  to  these  ends,  to  collect,  to  classify,  to  analyze, 
to  correlate,  to  interpret,  and  to  publish  facts  as  to  the  admin- 
istration of  municipal  government. 

In  1911  the  activities  of  the  bureau  were  broadened,  at 
least  indirectly,  by  the  affiliation  with  it  of  the  Training  School 
for  Public  Service.  This  school,  according  to  the  historical 
note  appearing  in  its  announcement  for  1917,  was  founded 
by  Mrs.  E.  H.  Harriman  in  the  spring  of  1911.  The  note 
reads : 

Seeing  the  immediate  and  future  need  for  trained  execu- 
tives to  serve  governmental  agencies  and  private  organizations 
interested  in  better  government,  Mrs.  Harriman  contributed 
the  sum  of  $40,000  to  initiate  the  preliminary  work.  Soon 
she  was  joined  by  thirty-five  other  contributors,  men  of  broad 
vision  and  large  experience,  and  a  fund  of  $200,000  to  carry 
on  the  work  of  the  school  was  guaranteed.  The  Bureau  of 
Municipal  Research  was  asked  to  organize  and  conduct  the 
work,  and  on  October  i,  1911,  the  Training  School  for  Public 
Service  formally  began  its  existence. 

Since  then  the  school  has  been  conducted  in  close  affilia- 
tion with,  if  not  directly  by,  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search. It  has  its  own  funds  and  officers,  but  occupies  the 
same  quarters  as  the  bureau,  and  the  students  get  a  large  part 
of  their  practical  training  in  administration  through  the  work 
done  by  them  on  assignments  given  to  them  by  the  bureau 
and  performed  under  its  direction. 

175 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  purposes  of  the  school  as  expressed  in  its  announce- 
ments are: 

To  give  to  its  students  a  firm  grasp  upon  all  the  leading 
problems  of  modern  public  administration;  to  train  men  and 
women  in  modern  administrative  methods,  especially  in  their 
relation  to  public  business ;  to  supply  public  and  private  bodies 
with  administrators  competent  to  test  and  improve  methods 
and  to  produce  results ;  to  give  graduates  of  technical  and  pro- 
fessional schools  an  opportunity  to  secure  practical  experience 
in  the  application  of  their  specialties  to  municipal  problems; 
to  furnish  a  connecting  link  between  schools  and  colleges  and 
public  departments  for  practical  field  work;  to  afford  oppor- 
•  trinities  for  advanced  students  in  economics  and  political 
science  to  prepare  doctors'  dissertations  and  treatises  on  specific 
problems  of  practical  administration;  to  enable  high  school, 
college  and  university  instructors  in  civics,  political  science 
and  economics  to  obtain  a  first-hand  contact  with  the  work 
of  public  administration;  to  publish  the  results  of  research  in 
administration ;  to  secure  an  open  discussion  of  public  business 
which  will  emphasize  the  need  of  training  public  officials  and 
employees ;  tp^  help  make  the  public  service  a  professioo^pf 
***-£Sua^  standing  wTfinaw^ 

The  school  is  under  the  direction  of  a  committee  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  The  work  of 
instruction  and  guidance  is  in  the  hands  of  the  supervisory 
staff  of  the  school,  the  members  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research  and  a  staff  of  special  instructors. 

The  training  given  to  students  consists  of  systematic  in- 
struction at  the  Training  School,  Columbia  University,  New 
York  University,  and  other  educational  institutions  in  New 
York  City;  and  field  work  with  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search and  with  various  public  and  private  institutions,  of- 
fices, and  associations  under  supervision. 

While  the  charter  of  the  bureau  does  not  in  any  way  re- 
strict its  activities  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  indeed  ex- 
pressly authorizes  it  to  establish  branches  in  any  state  or  ter- 
ritory of  the  Union,  the  bureau  has  naturally  devoted  more  at- 
tention to  the  improvement  of  the  administration  of  New 
York  City  than  to  that  of  any  other  single  city.  Particularly 
was  this  true  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  bureau.  It  is  impos- 


AGENCIES   FOR   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

sible,  however,  to  attempt,  in  the  space  at  disposal,  any  de- 
tailed account  of  its  activities  in  respect  to  the  municipal  gov- 
ernment of  New  York  City.  All  that  can  be  said  is  that,  for 
a  period  of  over  ten  years,  it  has  been  working  with  the  offi- 
cials of  that  city ;  that  in  doing  so  it  has  examined  into  almost 
all  branches  of  the  municipal  government;  made  many  con- 
crete suggestions  for  improvement ;  and  that  the  value  of  this 
work  has  been  repeatedly  testified  to  by  the  officers  of  that 
government.1 

At  the  time  the  bureau  was  established  there  were  but 
few  persons  who  had  made  any  special  study  of  the  technical 
problems  of  public  administration.  The  bureau  had  to  train 
a  special  staff  of  experts  in  this  field.  It  resulted  from  this 
that  when  the  success  achieved  by  the  New  York  bureau  led 
to  movements  in  other  cities  for  the  creation  of  similar  bu- 
reaus, the  persons  responsible  for  such  movements  have  to 
turn  to  the  New  York  bureau  for  assistance.  This  assistance 
has  been  rendered  in  two  ways :  in  the  sending  of  members  of 
its  staff  to  make  what  are  known  as  "municipal  surveys," 
that  is,  investigations  and  reports  having  for  their  purpose  to 
make  known  existing  conditions  and  the  lines  along  which 
efforts  for  reform  should  proceed;  and  in  furnishing  men  to 
take  charge  of  the  new  bureau  when  established.  This  work 
increased  to  such  an  extent  that  the  bureau  became  a  general 
agency  for  the  furnishing  of  expert  assistance  to  organiza- 
tions desiring  to  make  studies  of  municipal  conditions  and  to 
formulate  plans  for  their  improvement.  The  work  thus  done 
for  outside  agencies  is  performed  upon  a  cost  basis,  that  is, 
the  actual  cost  of  the  salaries  and  expenses  of  the  men  as- 
signed to  the  work  plus  an  overhead  charge  representing  a 
proper  proportion  of  the  general  expenses  of  running  the 
bureau. 

The  charter  of  the  bureau  apparently  restricts  its  activi- 
ties to  matters  of  municipal  administration.  In  point  of  fact, 
due  either  to  the  extent  to  which  municipal  affairs  in  New 
York  are  subject  to  state  control  or  to  other  reasons,  the 
bureau  has  gone  beyond  the  field  of  municipal  affairs  and  has 

1  For  an  impressive  account  of  the  accomplishments  of  the  bureau 
since  its  organization  see,  A  National  Program  to  Improve  Methods 
of  Government,  Municipal  Research,  No.  71,  March,  1916. 

177 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

played  an  important  part  in  promoting  administrative  reform 
in  the  government  of  the  state  of  New  York,  and  through  its 
publications  and  the  personal  efforts  of  its  officers,  adminis- 
trative reforrrl  generally  in  the  United  States.  Thus  in  the 
field  of  state  administration,  the  bureau  cooperated  with  the 
former  Department  of  Efficiency  and  Economy  in  the  prep- 
aration of  an  elaborate  descriptive  study  of  the  organization, 
functions,  personnel  and  responsibility  of  each  department, 
bureau  and  office  of  the  state  government.  This  re- 
port was  prepared  for  the  use  of  and  was  submitted  to  the 
State  Constitutional  Convention  of  1915.  Later,  the  bureau 
submitted  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  a  report  giving  a 
critical  and  constructive  appraisal  of  the  state  government, 
including  a  discussion  of  the  need  for  responsible  government 
and  the  development  of  executive  leadership,  a  plan  for  re- 
organization and  reclassification  of  the  state  departments  and 
a  subjective  revision  of  the  state  constitution.  Two  amend- 
ments were  also  prepared,  one  reclassifying  the  departments 
and  reducing  the  number  of  elective  officers,  the  other  pro- 
viding for  a  state  budget.  The  bureau  thus  placed  before  the 
convention  much  material  made  available  for  the  first  time 
concerning  the  problems,  facts  and  actual  conditions  of  state 
government. 

The  bureau  has  cooperated  with  the  Senate  Committee 
on  Civil  Service  of  the  state  legislature  in  an  elaborate  study 
of  standardization  of  salaries  in  the  civil  service  of  the  state. 
This  resulted  in  the  submission  of  a  report  consisting  of  com- 
plete standard  specifications,  an  administrative  code  for  the 
guidance  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  an  appraisal  to 
standard  grade  of  every  salaried  position  in  the  state  govern- 
ment, critical  reviews  of  defective  organizations  in  the  prin- 
cipal departments,  a  detailed  description  of  working  methods 
used  in  reaching  the  conclusions  stated  in  the  report  and  a 
pro  forma  bill  authorizing  the  establishment  of  the  standard 
titles  and  rates  of  pay. 

The  bureau  cooperated  with  both  the  Governor  and  the 
legislature  in  attempting  to  secure  executive  budget  proced- 
ure, and  assisted  in  the  preparation  of  bills  embodying  the 
principles  of  budget  reform.  The  bureau  also  conducted 

178 


AGENCIES  FOR  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

prison  surveys  at  Sing  Sing,  Clinton,  Auburn  and  Great 
Meadow,  the  items  of  special  interest  covered  being  prison 
industry,  prison  plants  and  methods  of  discipline,  and  made 
other  special  studies  in  state  administration. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  the  activities  of 
the  bureau  have  been  in  four  fields.  It  has,  in  the  first  place, 
sought  to  bring  about  an  improvement  of  administrative  con- 
ditions in  the  government  of  the  city  of  New  York  through 
the  prosecution  of  studies  in  close  cooperation  with  city  offi- 
cials and  the  formulation  of  proposals  for  improved  methods. 
Secondly,  it  has  cooperated  with  other  organizations  in  seek- 
ing to  bring  about  a  better  system  of  administration  of  state 
affairs.  Thirdly,  it  has  met  requests  from  all  parts  of  the 
Union  for  assistance  in  the  organization  of  local  bureaus  of 
municipal  research  or  the  prosecution  of  particular  inquiries 
having  for  their  purpose  the  improvement  of  the  conduct  of 
public  affairs.  And,  finally,  it  has  cooperated  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  a  school  for  training  men  in  the  principles  of  public 
administration. 

The  printed  publications  of  the  bureau  consist  of  a  series 
of  weekly  or  semi- weekly  leaflets  entitled  Efficient  Citizenship, 
of  which,  it  is  reported,  some  655  have  been  issued;  another 
scries  of  leaflets  entitled  Municipal  Research,  the  publication 
of  which  was  begun  in  1913,  of  which  56  issues  were  made 
up  to  December,  1914;  a  journal  bearing  the  same  title,  Mu- 
nicipal Research,  which  was  begun  in  January,  1915,  the  is- 
sues of  which  were  given  serial  numbers  beginning  with  the 
number  57  as  a  continuation  of  serial  numbers  of  the  leaflets 
similarly  entitled;  and  miscellaneous  reports.  The  periodical 
Municipal  Research  was  discontinued  as  a  monthly  at  the  end 
of  1917,  but  will  continue  to  appear  at  irregular  intervals. 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  publications  of  the  bureau  as 
given  on  the  cover  sheets  of  the  last  issue  of  Municipal  Re- 
search, with  the  exception  that  certain  titles  representing  the 
work  of  officers  of  the  bureau,  but  not  published  by  the  bureau 
itself,  have  been  eliminated. 


179 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

PUBLICATIONS 

Books  and  Pamphlets 

1907 

A  department  of  municipal  audit  and  examination ;  report  of  an 
investigation  of  the  office  of  Commissioners  of  accounts  New 
York  city.  [New  York,  1907.]  35  p.  incl.  tables. 

Making  a  municipal  budget,  functional  accounts  and  operative  sta- 
tistics for  the  Department  of  health  of  Greater  New  York.  [New 
York,  1907.]  171  p.  incl.  forms. 

Purposes  and  methods  of  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research.  [New 
York,  1907.]  28  p. 

1908 

Memorandum  of  matters  relating  to  New  York  city's  debt  that  sug- 
gest the  necessity  either  for  judicial  ruling  or  for  legislation, 
submitted  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  to  the  referee 
and  counsel  in  the  suit  of  Jefferson  M.  Levy  versus  Board  of 
estimate  and  apportionment;  to  the  sub-committee  on  finance, 
accounting,  etc.,  of  the  New  York  charter  revision  commission; 
and  to  counsel  to  the  joint  legislative  committee  appointed  to 
investigate  the  finances  of  the  city  of  New  York.  [New  York], 
1908.  31  p.  incl.  tables,  fold.  tab. 

New  York  city's  Department  of  finance.     Pt.  I — Submitted  to  the 
Hon.  Herman  A.  Metz,  comptroller,  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal 
research  .  .  .  New  York.  1908. 
Contents. 

Part.  I.     Report  on  present  methods,  with  suggestions  for  re- 
organization.    254  p. 

The  park  question  .  .  .  New  York.     1908.    2  v.  front,  (v.  2)  plates, 
tables,  fold,  diagrs. 
Contents. 

Pt.  I.  Critical  study  and  constructive  suggestions  pertain- 
ing to  administrative  and  accounting  methods  of 
the  Department  of  parks:  Manhattan  and  Rich- 
mond. 152  p. 

Pt.  II.  Critical  study  and  constructive  suggestions  pertain- 
ing to  revenue  and  deposits  of  the  Department  of 
parks:  Manhattan  and  Richmond.  124  p. 

1909 

Business  methods  of  New  York  city's  Police  department;  summary 
of  critical  study  and  constructive  suggestions  pertaining  to  ad- 
ministrative and  accounting  methods  of  the  Bureau  of  repairs 
and  supplies.  Based  upon  inquiry  requested  by  Police  commis- 
sioner Bingham,  July,  1908,  and  pursued  from  August,  1908,  to 
April,  1909,  with  the  cooperation  of  William  F.  Baker,  now 
police  commissioner  and  then  first  deputy  .  .  .  [New  York, 
1909.]  35  p.  IV  fold,  diagr. 

Collecting  water  revenues,  methods  of  the  Bureau  of  water  register, 
Manhattan,  with  suggestions  for  reorganization,  submitted  in 

180 


AGENCIES  FOR  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

November,  1908,  to  the  Commissioner  of  water  supply,  gas  and 
electricity.  New  York,  1909.  223,  [6]  p.  fold,  plan,  facsims., 
2  fold,  diagr. 

How  should  public  budgets  be  made?  How  budgets  have  been 
made,  how  budgets  are  made,  how  budgets  should  be  made,  four- 
teen stages  in  budget  making.  [New  York],  1909.  19  [i]  p. 
incl.  facsims. 

New  York  city's  debt;  facts  and  law  relating  to  the  constitutional 
limitations  of  New  York's  indebtedness;  a  brief  of  the  evidence 
taken  by  Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Tracy,  referee  in  Levy  vs.  the  Board 
of  estimate  and  apportionment;  submitted  by  Bureau  of  munici- 
pal research  .  .  .  New  York,  1909.  3  p.  I.,  3-83  p.  fold,  tables. 
School  progress  and  school  facts  .  .  .  [New  York],  1909.  73  p. 
Contents. 

Foreword:  Trustees,  Bureau  of  municipal  research. — School 
reports  as  they  are:  a  rejoinder:  John  L.  Tildsley,  principal 
De  Witt  Clinton  high  school,  New  York  city,  answered  point 
for  point  from  official  records  by  Mr.  Allen. — School  reports 
as  they  are:  William  H.  Allen.  [Reprinted  from  the  Edu- 
cational review,  New  York,  Feb.,  1909,  written  in  collabo- 
ration with  Dr.  Elizabeth  K.  Adams] — Questions  answered 
by  school  reports  as  they  are :  Bureau  of  municipal  research 
[with  special  t.-p.]. 

School  stories;  illustrated  guide  to  school  subjects  of  interest  .  .  . 
New  York.     1909.    88  p.    illus.,  diagrs. 
Contents. 

Foreword. — Topical  index  to  school  subjects  of  interest,  tenth 
annual  report  for  New  York  city  schools  .  .  .  issued  by  the 
city  superintendent  in  March,  1909,  for  the  school  year  end- 
ing July  31,  1908. 

Steps  taken  to  locate  and  to  solve  problems  of  enforcing  tenement 
house  laws. 

["Summary  of  report  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  in 
New  York  city's  tenement  house  department,  being  based  upon 
examinations  made  in  1908  and  1909  in  cooperation  with  the 
department."]  [New  York,  1909.]  16  p. 

Tenement  house  administration,  steps  taken  to  locate  and  to  solve 
problems  of  enforcing  the  tenement  house  law.  [New  York], 
1909.  175  p.  illus.,  fold.  tab. 

What  should  New  York's  next  comptroller  do?  "The  business  issue 
of  the  next  administration."  [New  York,  1909.]  15  [i]  p. 

1910 

Business  methods  of  New  York  city's  Police  department;   critical 
study  and  constructive  suggestions  pertaining  to  administrative 
and  accounting  methods  of  the  Bureau  of  repairs  and  supplies 
.  .  .     [New  York],  1910.     212  p.  fold,  tables,  fold,  diagrs. 
"Based   upon   inquiry   requested   by   Police   commissioner   Bing- 
ham,   July,   1908,   and  pursued   from  August,    1908,  to  April, 
1909,  with  the  cooperation  of  William  F.   Baker,  now  police 
commissioner  and  then  first  deputy." 

Municipal  reform  through  revision  of  business  methods,  New  York 
city.  [New  York],  1910.  58  p. 

181 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Resolutions  providing  for  inquiries  into  education,  health,  hospital 
and  charitable  activities  of  the  city  of  New  York  and  for  stan- 
dardizing salaries  and  service  requirements  among  city  em- 
ployees. New  York,  1910.  up. 

St.  Louis,  a  preliminary  survey  of  certain  departments  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  with  constructive  suggestions 
for  changes  in  organization  and  method.  St.  Louis,  City  council 
1910.  416  p.  plans,  forms,  diagrs. 

''The  Bureau  of  municipal  research  undertook  to  make  a  pre- 
liminary survey  of  the  government  of  St.  Louis  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  Executive  committee  of  the  municipal  voters' 
league." — Introduction. 

1911 

Does  your  accounting  system  give  you  all  the  information  you  need? 
May,  1911.  16  p. 

A  report  on  the  Division  of  child  hygiene,  Department  of  health, 
with  constructive  suggestions.  Prepared  for  the  committee  of 
the  Board  of  estimate  and  apportionment  on  health,  hospitals 
and  charities  inquiries,  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research, 
New  York  city.  [New  York],  1911.  75  p.  incl.  forms  (2  fold). 

1912 

Report  of  survey  of  the  Department  of  health  and  the  Department 
of  education,  city  of  Atlanta,  Georgia,  made  for  the  Atlanta 
chamber  of  commerce  committee  on  municipal  research.  By 
S.  G.  Lindholm  for  the  New  York  bureau  of  municipal  research. 
December,  1912.  44  p.  fold,  tab.,  diagrs. 
Each  report  has  special  t.-p. 

Six  years  of  municipal  research  for  New  York  city;  record  for 
1906-1911.  [New  York]  [1912].  80  p. 

1913 

Administrative  methods  of  the  city  government  of  Los  Angeles, 
California.  Report  of  a  preliminary  survey  of  certain  city 
departments  made  for  the  Municipal  league  of  Los  Angeles 
.  .  .  Los  Angeles,  Municipal  league  of  Los  Angeles,  1913.  27  p. 

Efficiency  and  next  needs  of  St.  Paul's  health  department,  report 
submitted  by  the  New  York  bureau  of  municipal  research  and 
Training  school  for  public  service,  March,  1913.  [New  York, 
1913].  48  p. 

At  head  of  title:  St.  Paul  anti-tuberculosis  committee,  St.  Paul, 
Minnesota. 

Organization  and  administration  of  the  city  government  of  Atlanta, 
Ga.  (Exclusive  of  Health  and  Educational  departments.)  Re- 
port of  a  general  survey  made  for  the  Atlanta  chamber  of  com- 
merce committee  on  municipal  research,  by  Herbert  R.  Sands, 
for  the  New  York  bureau  of  municipal  research,  November,  1912. 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  Appeal  pub.  co.  [1913?]  64  p. 

Organization  and  administration  of  the  city  government  of  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts.  Report  of  a  survey  made  by  the  New 

182 


AGENCIES  FOR  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

York   Bureau   of   municipal   research,   Jan.,    1913.     New   York, 

I9I3-  .  93  P- 

Organization  and  business  methods  of  the  city  government  of  Port- 
land, Oregon,  report  by  Bureau  of  municipal  research,  New 
York  city.  [New  York?  1913.]  119  p. 

Reports  on  various  subjects  relating  to  the  Police  department.  (In 
New  York  (City)  Board  of  aldermen.  Special  committee  to 
investigate  the  Police  dept.  Stenographer  minutes  [hearings 
of  Sept.  9,  1912,  to  March  27,  1913],  etc.  1913.  v.  6,  p.  4445- 
4821). 

1914 

City  and  county  of  Denver;  report  on  a  survey  of  certain  depart- 
ments .  .  .  prepared  for  the  Colorado  taxpayers  protective 
league.  [Denver,  The  Great  western  printing  and  publishing 
co.,  printers,  1914?]  583  p.  plates,  fold,  plan,  fold,  diagrs. 

Next  steps  in  the  development  of  a  budget  procedure  for  the  city 
of  New  York.  [New  York,  1914.]  132  p.  incl.  tables,  forms. 

A  report  on  the  police  pension  fund  of  the  city  of  New  York,  sub- 
mitted to  the  Aldermanic  committee  on  police  investigation  by 
the  Bureau  of  Municipal  research  .  .  .  [New  York,  1914.]  212 
p.  incl.  tables,  charts. 

1915 

Business  and  accounting  methods,  Indian  bureau.  Report  to  the 
Joint  commission  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  Sixty- 
third  Congress,  third  session,  to  investigate  Indian  affairs,  rela- 
tive to  business  and  accounting  methods  employed  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Office  of  Indian  affairs.  Prepared  by  the 
Bureau  of  municipal  research,  New  York.  Washington,  Govt. 
print,  off.,  1915.  86  p. 

Government  of  Monroe  County,  N.  Y.  (including  town  government), 
description  of  organization  and  functions,  transmitted  to  the 
New  York  state  constitutional  convention  by  the  New  York 
state  constitutional  convention  commission,  prepared  for  the 
Rochester  bureau  of  municipal  research.  [Albany,  J.  B.  Lyon 
company,  printers,  1915.]  60  p.  fold,  diagrs.  (In  New  York 
state  constitutional  convention  commission.  City  and  county 
government.  [No.  3.]  Albany,  1915.) 

Government  of  Nassau  County,  N.  Y.,  description  of  organization 
and  functions.  Transmitted  to  the  New  York  state  constitutional 
convention  by  the  New  York  state  constitutional  convention  com- 
mission. Prepared  for  the  Commission  on  the  government  of 
Nassau  County.  [Albany,  J.  B.  Lyon  company,  printers,  1915.] 
108  p.  fold,  diagrs. 

(In  New  York  state  constitutional  convention  commission  "City 
and  county  government."     [No.  4.]     Albany,  1915.) 
Includes   a   report  on   the   government   of   Nassau   County,   the 
towns  of  Hempstead,  North  Hempstead  and  Oyster  Bay,  and 
the  village  of  Hempstead. 

Government  of  the  city  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  description  of  organiza- 
tion and  functions  transmitted  to  the  New  York  state  constitu- 

183 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

tional  convention  by  the  New  York  state  constitutional  conven- 
tion commission,  prepared  for  the  Rochester  bureau  of  munici- 
pal research.  Albany,  J.  B.  Lyon  company,  printers,  1915.  104 
p.  fold,  diagrs. 

(In  New  York  state  constitutional  convention  commission.  City 
and  county  government.  [No.  2.]  Albany,  1915.) 

Government  of  the  city  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.  General  survey,  critical 
appraisal  and  constructive  suggestions,  prepared  for  the  Roches- 
ter bureau  of  municipal  research.  [Rochester?  1915?]  546  p. 
plates,  plan,  fold,  tab.,  diagrs. 

Preliminary  report  outlining  a  proposed  reorganization  of  the  state 
government  submitted  as  a  basis  of  discussion  to  the  "Commit- 
tee on  the  Governor  and  other  state  officers,"  New  York  State 
constitutional  convention  .  .  .  New  York,  1915-  23  P- 

Reading,  Pennsylvania.  Report  on  a  survey  of  the  municipal  depart- 
ments and  the  school  district.  Prepared  for  the  Chamber  of 
commerce  of  Reading.  [Reading,  Pa.,  Weiler's  printing  house, 
19*5?]  368  p.  diagrs. 

1916 

Hall  of  records  power  plant.  Report  and  discussion  of  physical  test 
and  costs  of  operation  and  maintenance.  Test  conducted  for 
a  full  year,  1913,  under  the  auspices  of  a  board  of  engineers 
composed  of  representatives  of  the  city  of  New  York,  the  New 
York  Edison  company  and  the  New  York  Bureau  of  municipal 
research.  New  York,  1916.  x,  673  p.  plates,  plans  (part,  fold.), 
tables  (part,  fold.),  diagrs.  (part,  fold.),  forms. 

Memorial  to  the  Senate  and  Assembly  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal 
research,  asking  consideration  in  Committee  of  the  whole  of  the 
Appropriation  bill  submitted  by  the  governor  with  his  annual 
message,  January  5,  1916.  Transmitted  to  the  Legislature  Jan- 
uary 25,  1916.  Albany,  J.  B.  Lyons  company,  printers,  1916.  40  p. 

Report  on  a  survey  of  the  government  of  the  city  and  county  of 
San  Francisco.  Prepared  for  the  San  Francisco  Real  estate 
board  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research,  New  York,  1916. 
San  Francisco,  Rincon  publishing  company,  printers  [1916]. 
xxvi,  681  p.  front.,  fold,  charts,  fold,  tables,  forms  (i  fold.). 

Torrens  registration  system  in  New  York:  memorandum  relative  to 
proposed  amendments  to  the  real  property  law  governing  regis- 
tation  of  real  property  titles  known  as  the  Torrens  law.  Pre- 
pared by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research,  New  York,  February, 
1916,  with  letter  of  transmission  to  the  Board  of  estimate  and 
apportionment  of  the  city  of  New  York  by  John  J.  Hopper,  reg- 
ister of  the  county  of  New  York.  [New  York,  1916.]  29  p. 

1917 

The  citizen  and  the  government.    New  York,  1917.    20  p. 

Columbus,  Ohio ;  report  on  a  survey  of  the  city  government.  Colum- 
bus, O.,  The  Stoneman  press  [1917].  257  p.  diagrs. 

A  general  administrative  survey  of  the  city  of  Jamestown,  New 
York;  a  study  of  the  methods  in  use  in  the  various  departments 
of  the  city,  together  wth  recommendations  for  improvement  based 

184 


AGENCIES  FOR  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

upon  long  study  and  wide  experience.     Prepared  for  the  James- 
town Board  of  commerce.     [Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Journal  press, 
inc.,  printers,  1917.]     421,  ii  p.  incl.  diagrs.,  forms. 
Cover  title:  Government  of  the  city  of  Jamestown,  New  York, 
general  municipal  survey  and  constructive  recommendations. 

Report  on  a  survey  of  the  city  government  of  Indianapolis,  Indiana. 
Prepared  for  the  Indianapolis  chamber  of  commerce.  Indian- 
apolis, Wm.  B.  Burford,  printer  [1917].  x,  568  p.  illus.,  fold, 
charts. 

Summary  of  recommendations  from  report  of  a  survey  of  the  city 
government  of  Richmond,  Va.  New  York,  1917.  80  p. 

Ten  years  of  municipal  research  .  .  .  [New  York,  1917?]  22  p.  fold, 
chart. 

PERIODICALS 

Efficient    citizenship,      (weekly    and    semi-weekly    bulletins)      New 

York  (about  655  issued  to  date). 

Municipal  research,  to  promote  the  application  of  scientific  princi- 
ples to  government.     Issued  ...  by  the   Bureau   of   municipal 
research.     No.   i — July,  1913.     New  York   [1913.] 
Contents.     (Subheadings  are  listed  only  where  of  special  signifi- 
cance.) 

No.  1-56,  July  i3-Dec.,  1914  (leaflets). 

No.  57,  Jan.,     1915.     Announcement    [of    the    first    issue    of 

Municipal    research    as    a    monthly]. 

The    citizen    and    the    government — a 

statement   of   policy   and   method,     p. 

1-4. 

Next  step  in  the  development  of  a 
budget  procedure  for  the  city  of 
Greater  New  York.  (A  report.)  p. 
5-T42. 

No.  58,  Feb.,     1915.     "A    state    budget" — constructive    propo- 
sals to  be  submitted  to  the  State  con- 
stitutional   convention,    by    Frederick 
A.  Cleveland,     p.  147-68. 
The  practical  side  of  budget  procedure, 

by  Charles  D.  Norton,     p.  169-72. 
No.  59,  Mar.,    1915.     Financial  problems  of  the  city  of  New 

York,  p.  199-210. 
New  York  City's  need   for  a  financial 

program,  p.  211-39. 
The  "pay-as-you-go"  agreement,  p.  240- 

52- 
No.  60,  April,  1915.     The  condition  of  the  New  York  State 

sinking  funds,    p.  273-308. 
No.  61,  May,     1915.     The  constitution  and  government  of  the 

state  of  New  York.     246  p. 
No.  62,  June,    1915.     Budget  systems,  a  discussion  before  the* — -\ 

New  York  Constitutional  convention. 

447  p. 

Administration  and  financial  methods,  by 
Dr.  Frank  J.  Goodnow. 

185 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


No.  63,  July,     1915 


No.  64,  Aug., 
[Extra  No.   i, 
No.  65,  Sept., 


1912. 


Financial  administration  with  special 
reference  to  English  experience,  by 
Dr.  A.  Lawrence  Lowell. 

State  administration;  discussions  of 
proposed  amendments  for  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  executive  branch 
before  the  New  York  Constitutional 
convention.  630  p. 

The  federal  government  as  an  example, 
by  Hon.  W.  H.  Taft. 

State  government  from  the  point  of 
view  of  administrative  law,  by  Dr. 
Frank  J.  Goodnow. 

State  finances;  a  report  on  the  financial 
procedure  of  the  state  of  New  York, 
with  special  reference  to  the  direct 
tax,  1911-1916.  19  p. 

Aug.,   1915.]     Annual  report  of  the  Training 
school  for  public  service,  conducted  by 
the    Bureau    of    municipal    research, 
1914-1915.    30  p. 
1915.     Administration  of  the  Indian  Office.    117 

Supplement :  Public  opinion  and  national 
economy,  by  Mr.  R.  Fulton  Cutting. 

» •  13  P- 

No.  66,  Oct.,  1915.  Legal  rights  of  civil  servants  in  the  city 
of  New  York  [by  George  H.  Stover]. 
202  p. 

No.  67,  Nov.,  1915.  Standardization  of  public  employments. 
Prepared  under  supervision  of  Arthur 
W.  Procter.  Pt.  I.  An  interpretation 
of  the  standardization  movement.  117 
P- 

Training  for  municipal  service.  51  p. 
tables  (part.  fold.). 

The  problem  of  training  for  the  public 
service,  by  Charles  A.  Beard. 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  College 
of  the  city  of  New  York  on  Municipal 
service  survey,  by  Frederick  E.  Breit- 
hut.                                              — . 
No.  69,  Jan.,     1916.     Responsible  government.    135  p. J 

The  budget  idea  in  the  United  States. 

Memorial  to  the  Legislature  of  the 
state  of  New  York,  recommending 
amendment  of  law,  to  provide  for  bud- 
get procedure,  and  correspondence 
with  the  Governor. 

Budget  legislation  in  two  states.     102  p. 

Part    I — Financial    legislation    in    New 
Jersey. 

186 


No.  68,  Dec.,    1915. 


No.  70,  Feb.,     1916. 


AGENCIES  FOR  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

Part  II — Financial    legislation    in    New 

York.  -_p.~ 

No.  71,  Mar.,    1916.     A  national  program  to  improve  methods 

of  government.    88  p.  plates. 

No.  72,  April,  1916.  The  history  of  appropriations  in  the  leg- 
islative session  of  1916,  New  York 
State  [by  Birl  E.  Schultz].  134  p. 

No.  73,  May,     1916.     Three    proposed    constitutional    amend- 
ments for  control  of  the  purse.    86  p. 
The    Maryland    proposed    constitutional 

amendment  for  an  executive  budget. 
The  New  York  proposed  constitutional 

amendments. 

No.  74,  June,  1916.  The  accounting  and  reporting  methods  of 
the  state  of  New  York  [by  Fred  F. 
Blachly].  212  p. 

No.  75,  July,  1916.  The  purposes  of  the  indebtedness  of 
American  cities,  1880-1912  [by  Fred 
Emerson  Clark].  72  p. 

No.  76,  Aug.,  1916.  Standardization  of  public  employments. 
Part  II.  The  practical  side  of  stand- 
ardization in  American  governments, 
prepared  under  the  supervision  of  Ar- 
thur W.  Procter.  148  p.  (Contains 
sections  on  standardization  in  Chicago, 
Pittsburgh,  New  York  City,  and  New 
York  State.)  (Part  I  was  published 
in  the  November,  1915,  issue,  No.  67 
of  Municipal  research.} 
No.  77,  Sept.,  1916.  Citizen  agencies  for  research  in 

ment.     Part  I.     114  p. 
The  organization  and  work  of  the  Fi- 
nance commission  of  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton. 

.The  bureau  in  Philadelphia,  the  first  mu- 
nicipal venture  outside  New  York. 
The  Chicago  bureau  of  public  efficiency. 
The  Dayton  bureau  of  research. 
The  Ohio  institute  for  public  efficiency. 
The  Milwaukee  Citizens  bureau  of  mu- 
nicipal efficiency. 

The  Bureau  of  municipal  research  of  the 
Minneapolis  civic  and  commerce  asso- 
ciation. 

The  Akron  bureau  of  municipal  research.  ( 
The  Bureau  of  state  research  of  the  New  \ 

Jersey  state  chamber  of  commerce. 

No.  78,  Oct.,     1916.     The  engineer  in  public  service,  by  Fred- 
erick E.  Breithut.    Part  I.    71  p. 
The    engineer    in    the    service    of    the 

United  States  government. 

No.  79,  Nov.,  1916.  The  engineer  in  public  service,  by  Fred- 
erick E.  Breithut.  Part  II.  176  p. 

187 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  engineer  in  the  service  of  New  York 
state. 

The  engineer  in  the  service  of  New  York 
city. 

List  of  official  registers  and  directories, 
published  by  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment. 

List  of  civil  service  commissions  in  the 

United  States. 
No.  80,  Dec.,     1916.     The   elements   of   state  budget   making. 

63  P- 

"Maryland's  executive  budget,"  by  Gov- 
ernor Harrington  of  Maryland. 

No.  81,  Jan.,  1917.  Some  results  and  limitations  of  central 
financial  control  as  shown  by  nine 
years'  experience  in  New  York  city. 

63  P- 

No.  82,  Feb.,  1917.  Highway  laws  of  the  United  States,  a 
topical  discussion,  by  A.  N.  Johnson. 


topical 
163  p. 


No.  83,  Mar.,    1917.     Japanese  administration  and  finance.    72 

P- 

No.  84,  April,   1917.     Problems  of  highway  administration  [by 

William  A.  Bassett].    269  p. 
No.  85,  May,     1917.     Widows'  pension  legislation  [by  Chester 

Jacob  Teller].     125  p. 
A    year    of   widows'    pensions    in    New 

York  state. 
No.  86,  June,     1917.     The  New  York  state  legislative  budget 

for    1917    [by    John    L.    Keddy    and 

Charles  F.  Kerrigan].     140  p. 
No.  87,  July,     1917.     Canadian  provincial  budget  system  and 

financial   history,   by   Harold   G.   Vil- 

lard.    60  p. 
No.  88,  Aug.,    1917.     The  New  York  city  budget  [by  Arnold 

W.  Lahee].    154  p. 
No.  89,  Sept.,    1917.     Instruction  in  civics  in  New  York  city 

high  schools;  a  statistical  survey.    39 

P- 

No.  90,  Oct.,     1917.     The   state  movement   for  efficiency  and 
economy  [by  Raymond  Mgjey].  163  p. 

Cooperative  Investigations 

The   Bureau   of  municipal   research   assisted   in   the   preparation 
of  the  following  reports: 

A  bureau  of  child  hygiene;  cooperative  studies  and  experiments  by 
the  Department  of  health  of  the  city  of  New  York  and  the 
Bureau  of  municipal  research  .  .  .  [New  York]  Bureau  of  mu- 
nicipal research,  1908.  40  p.,  I  1.  incl.  tables,  front.,  plates, 
forms. 

The   constitution   and  government   of   the   state   of   New   York:   an 

188 


AGENCIES   FOR   MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION 

appraisal.  Transmitted  to  the  New  York  state  constitutional 
convention  commission.  [Prepared  for  the  Constitutional  con- 
vention commission  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  and  the 
New  York  state  department  of  efficiency  and  economy.] 
[Albany]  Bureau  of  municipal  research,  1915.  250  p.  incl. 
diagrs. 

Efficiency  and  next  needs  of  St.  Paul's  health  department,  report 
submitted  by  the  New  York  bureau  of  municipal  research  and 
Training  school  for  public  service,  March,  1913.  [New  York, 
1913.]  48  p. 

At  head  of  title :     St.  Paul  anti-tuberculosis  committee,  St.  Paul, 
Minnesota. 

Government  of  the  city  of  New  York ;  a  survey  of  its  organization 
and  functions,  prepared  for  the  Constitutional  convention,  1915, 
by  the  office  of  the  commissioners  of  accounts,  New  York  city, 

and  New  York  Bureau  of  municipal  research.    New  York,  J.  J.  ^ 

Little  &  Ives  company,  1915.    xxxi,  1343  p. 

Government  of  the  state  of  New  York.  A  description  of  its  organi- 
zation and  functions.  Prepared  for  the  New  York  State  consti- 
tutional convention  commission  by  the  New  York  State  depart- 
ment of  efficiency  and  economy  and  New  York  Bureau  of  mu- 
nicipal research.  January  i,  1915  .  .  .  [Albany,  J.  B.  Lyon 
company,  printers,  1915.]  xxxii,  768  p.  diagrs.  (part  fold.). 

Municipal  year  book  of  the  city  of  New  York.     [New  York],  1913.     ) 

PUBLICATIONS    OF   THE    METZ    FUND 

Publication  No.  I — New  York,  1911 — 
Contents. 

No.     4.     To  Mayors,  comptrollers  and  auditors.     1911. 
No.  14.     Would  a  budget  exhibit  help  your  city?    1911. 
No.  19.     Unit  costs  in  municipal  reports.     1911. 
No.  35.     Plan  for  establishing  a  model  government  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia. 

No.  — .  Short  talks  on  municipal  accounting  and  reporting. 
National  fund  for  promoting  efficient  municipal  ac- 
counting and  reporting.  1911. 

Handbook  of  municipal  accounting,  prepared  by  the  Metz  fund  from 
descriptive  and  critical  data  collected,  and  constructive  recom- 
mendations made  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research.  New 
York,  D.  Appleton  and  company,  1913.  xxx,  318  p.  fold,  forms, 
fold,  tables.  (Half-title:  Metz  fund  handbooks  of  city  business 
methods  .  .  .) 

PUBLICATIONS  OF  TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR  PUBLIC  SERVICE 

Training  school  for  public  service;  announcement — 1911,  conducted 
by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  .  .  .  [New  York,  1911.] 


16 


PT 


he  same,  1916-1917.     12  p. 


Preliminary  report  on  conditions  and  needs  of  rural  schools  in  Wis- 
consin. Results  of  field  study  reported  to  the  Wisconsin  state 
board  of  public  affairs  by  the  Training  school  for  public  service. 

189 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

August,  1912.     [New  York,  1912.]     92  p.     (Efficient  citizenship 

bulletin,  No.  587.) 
[First]  annual  report.     1911-1912. 
[Second]  annual  report  for  1912-1913.    (Efficient  citizenship  bulletin, 

No.  670.) 

[Third]  annual  report  for  1913-1914. 
[Fourth]  annual  report  for  1914-1915.     30  p.     (Municipal  research 

[No.  64].    Extra  No.  i,  August,  1915.) 

ARTICLES 

Allen,  W.  H.    Better-business  methods  for  cities.    American  Review 

of  Reviews,  Feb.,  1908.    v.  37:  195-200. 
Allen,  William  H.     Training  men  and  women   for  public  service. 

American  academy  of  political  and  .social  science.    Annals,  May, 

1912.    v.  41 :  307-12. 

[The  National  training  school  for  public  service  conducted  by 

the  New  York  Bureau  of  municipal  research.] 
Beard,  C.  A.    Reconstructing  state  government.     New  Republic,  Aug. 

21,  1915.    v.  4:  sup.  1-16. 

[Deals  largely  with  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  and  its 
work  in  connection  with  the   New  York   state   constitutional 
convention.] 
Bruere,  Henry.     Bureau  of  municipal  research.     What  it  has  done 

for  better  government  in  New  York  city.     World's  Work,  April, 

1912.    v.  23 :  683-6. 
Bruere,  Henry.     Government  and  publicity.     Independent,  Dec.   12, 

1907.    v.  63:  1422-6. 
Cleveland,   Frederick  A.     An  agency   of   citizen   inquiry.      (In  his 

Chapters   on   municipal   administration  and   accounting.)      New 

York,  1909.     p.  346-61. 
Heaton,  J.  P.     Municipal  research;  ten  years  of  the  pioneer  New 

York  bureau.    Survey,  Dec.  4,  1915.    v.  35  :  230. 
/  -^     Hopkins,  George  B.    New  York  bureau  of  municipal  research.  Amer- 
ican academy  of  political  and  social  science.    Annals,  May,  1912. 

v.  41 :  235-44. 

[Accomplishments  of  the  Bureau.] 

Prendergast,  William  A.     The  work  of  the  Bureau  of  municipal  re- 
search in  relation  to  the  administration  of  the  city's  finances. 

1915.     8  p. 

Reprinted  from  the  Real  Estate  Magazine,  November,  1915. 
Report  of  the  division  of  field  work  of  the  New  York  bureau  of 

municipal  research   for  the  year  ended  Dec.  31,   1916.     Record 

and  Guide,  Feb.  7,  1917.    v.  99:  218. 
_,       Wickersham,   George  W.     The  new   constitution  and  the  work  of 

the  Bureau  of  municipal  research.     1915.     6  p. 

Reprinted  from  the  Real  Estate  Magazine,  October,  1915. 


; 


190 


CHAPTER  VII 

AGENCIES   FOR   INVESTIGATING   THE   ADMINIS- 
TRATION OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  OFFICIAL 

There  are  but  few  instances  where  an  official  body  has 
been  created  by  a  municipality  for  the  purpose  of  making  a 
study  of  its  system  of  administration  with  a  view  to  effecting 
improvements  in  it.  The  explanation  of  the  slight  extent  to 
which  efforts  to  improve  methods  of  municipal  administra- 
tion of  this  character  have  been  made  is  probably  to  be  found 
in  the  difficulty  that  is  experienced  in  giving  to  such  bodies  and 
their  work  a  non-political  character  and  the  extent  to  which 
this  field  has  been  occupied  by  privately  organized  and  sup- 
ported bureaus  of  municipal  research. 

Boston,  Mass.:  Finance  Commission  of  1907-1909.  In  re- 
sponse to  a  public  demand,  voiced  especially  by  the  Good 
Government  Association,  for  an  investigation  of  the  finan- 
cial condition  and  fiscal  administrative  methods  of  the  city, 
the  mayor  of  Boston,  in  January,  1907,  sent  a  message  to  the 
city  council  in  which  he  recommended  the  appointment  of  a 
finance  commission  empowered  and  directed  to  make  this  in- 
vestigation. The  council  complied  with  this  request,  and 
authorized  the  mayor  to  appoint  a  commission  which  should 
include  one  representative  from  each  of  the  following  organi- 
zations: The  Associated  Board  of  Trade,  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Boston  Merchants'  Association,  Clearing  House  Com- 
mittee, Real  Estate  Exchange  and  Central  Labor  Union.  The 
following  functions  and  powers  were  given  to  this  body: 

Such  finance  commission  shall  examine  into  all  matters 
pertaining  to  the  finances  of  the  city,  including  debt,  taxation 
and  expenditures,  shall  give  public  hearings,  and  shall  in  par- 
ticular inquire: 

191 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

1.  Whether  under  the  present  practice  of  the  city  its  ob- 
jects of  expenditure  are  rightly  divided  between  those  which 
may  properly  be  provided  for  by  loan  and  those  which  should 
be  met  by  taxation,  and  whether  its  loans  are  now  issued  for 
proper  periods. 

2.  Whether  the  present  distinctions  between  loans  inside 
and  outside  the  debt  limit  are  based   upon  sound  financial 
principles. 

3.  Whether  any  change  should  be  made  in  the  present 
system  of  accumulating  sinking  funds  and  issuing  new  loans 
annually. 

4.  Whether  debt,  taxation  or  assessments  upon  property 
are  now  excessive,  and,  if  so,  in  what  manner  the  same  can 
be  reduced. 

5.  Whether  present  systems  of  bookkeeping,  auditing  and 
administration  afford  sufficient  protection  to  the  city  treasury. 

6.  Whether  the  cost  of  any  municipal  works  or  services 
now  paid  for  from  the  city  treasury  should  be  raised  by  spe- 
cial assessment,  or  whether  any  changes  should  be  made  in 
existing  provisions  for  the  laying  and  collecting  of  special 
assessments. 

7.  Whether  the  financial  burden  imposed  upon  the  city  in 
connection  with  the  expenditures   for  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  metropolitan  works  is  excessive  or  unfair, 
and,  if  so,  how  the  same  can  be  reduced  or  made  equitable. 

8.  Whether  any  changes  should  be  made  in  the  present  dis- 
tribution of  powers  relative  to  appropriations,  loans  and  ex- 
penditures. 

9.  Whether  the  general  taxation  laws  of  the  state,  and 
particularly  those  relating  to  the  taxation  of  the  property  of 
corporations,  operate  fairly  in  respect  to  the  interests  of  Bos- 
ton, and,  if  not,  what  changes  should  be  made  in  them. 

10.  Whether  appropriations  and  loans  for  the  several  de- 
partments of  the  city  are  larger  than  necessary. 

11.  Whether  the  limit  of  municipal  indebtedness  should 
be  fixed  by  constitutional  amendment,  or  the  present  statute, 
fixing  the  limit,  should  be  repealed  or  amended. 

It  was  further  ordered  that  the  Finance  Commission  in- 
quire— 

i.  Whether  it  is  advisable  to  create  new  sources  of  reve- 
nue, and,  if  so,  to  suggest  the  sources  and  for  what  purpose 
the  proceeds  should  be  applied. 

192 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

2.  To  inquire  into  the  present  general  plan  of  sewer  con- 
struction and  report  whether  or  not  it  is  the  one  best  adapted 
to  the  city,  and,  if  not,  to  investigate  and  report  a  compre- 
hensive scheme  for  future  development  of  the  sewer  system, 
with  special  reference  as  to  the  amount  of  money  the  city 
can  annually  afford  to  spend  for  the  completion  of  work  al- 
ready begun. 

Fifty  thousand  dollars  was  appropriated  for  the  expenses 
of  the  commission. 

To  facilitate  the  work  of  the  commission,  the  legislature, 
on  petition,  granted  the  commission  the  power  to  compel  the 
attendance  of  witnesses,  the  production  of  books  and  papers, 
and  to  administer  oaths.1 

The  commission  organized  .itself  for  active  work  on  July 
30,  1907,  and  from  that  date  until  January  29,  1909,  when 
the  final  report  was  issued,  interim  reports  were  made  on  the 
investigations  which  were  being  conducted.  Technical  ex- 
perts were  employed  as  needed  and  their  findings  were  pub- 
lished by  the  commission.  The  final  report  stated  the  con- 
clusions reached  and  contained  an  account  of  the  changes 
recommended  by  the  commission  as  to  administration  and  as 
to  the  fundamental  structure  of  the  city  government. 

The  legislative  measures  which  the  commission  regarded 
as  essential  to  enable  the  people  of  Boston  to  redeem  their 
government  were  summarized  as  follows : 

1.  A  simplified  ballot,   with  as   few  names  thereon  as 
possible. 

2.  The  abolition  of  party  nominations. 

3.  A  city  council  consisting  of  a  single  small  body  elected 
at  large. 

4.  The  concentration  of  executive  power  and  responsibil- 
ity in  the  mayor. 

5.  The   administration   of   the   departments   by   trained 
experts,  or  persons  with  special  qualifications  for  the  office. 

6.  Full  publicity  secured  through  a  permanent  finance 
commission. 

'The  paragraphs  which  follow  are  from  the  report  of  the  chair- 
man of  the  commission,  Hon.  John  R.  Murphy,  as  published  in 
Municipal  Research,  No.  77  (Sept.,  1916). 

193 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 
The  commission  closed  its  report  with  these  words: 

These  measures  will  enable  a  good  mayor  and  city  coun- 
cil to  give  the  citizens  a  really  good  administration,  will  en- 
courage indifferent  men  to  keep  a  fairly  straight  course  by 
freeing  them  from  the  partisan  fetters  of  the  present  system, 
and  will  deter  bad  men,  if  elected,  from  demoralizing  the 
public  service  and  using  the  public  money  for  their  own  ad- 
vantage. 

The  task  set  before  the  commission  was  to  devise  a  prac- 
tical working  form  of  government  for  the  city  of  Boston;  not 
a  charter  for  some  other  city;  much  less  a  charter  good  for 
all  cities.  It  is  under  no  illusion  that  the  changes  recom- 
mended will  of  and  by  themselves  secure  good  government. 
No  municipal  charter  can  be  a  self -executing  instrument  of 
righteousness.  If  the  people  want  the  kind  of  government 
they  have  had  during  the  past  few  years,  no  charter  revision 
will  prevent  it.  If,  as  the  commission  believes,  they  desire 
good  government,  the  plan  suggested  should  enable  them  to 
obtain  and  keep  it. 

Appended  thereto  was  a  draft  for  a  new  city  charter; 
one  of  the  provisions  of  this  proposed  charter  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  permanent  finance  commission,  which,  in  order 
that  it  might  be  independent  of  city  politics,  should  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor. 

Four  volumes  of  reports  were  published  by  the  commis- 
sion. These  are  listed  as  the  first  items  in  the  joint  list  of 
publications  of  the  commission  and  of  the  permanent  commis- 
sion which  succeeded  it,  given  after  the  account  of  the  latter 
body  immediately  following. 

Boston,  Mass. :  Permanent  Finance  Commission.1  In 
1909,  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represen- 
tatives relating  "to  the 'administration  of  the  city  of  Boston 
and  to  amend  the  charter  of  the  said  city,"  and  became  chapter 
486  of  the  acts  of  1909.  This  bill  was  substantially  the  new 
charter  proposed  by  the  Finance  Commission,  although  a 
number  of  minor  changes  were  made.  The  sections  relating 

JThis  account  is  taken  from  the  report  of  the  chairman  of  the 
commission,  Hon.  John  R.  Murphy,  as  published  in  Municipal  Re- 
search, No.  77  (Sept.,  1916). 

194 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

to  the  appointment  of  the  Finance  Commission  were  as  fol- 
lows : 

Within  sixty  days  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  the  gov- 
ernor with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council  shall  appoint 
a  finance  commission  to  consist  of  five  persons,  inhabitants 
of  and  qualified  voters  in  the  city  of  Boston,  who  shall  have 
been  such  for  at  least  three  years  prior  to  the  date  of  their 
appointment,  one  for  the  term  of  five  years,  one  for  four 
years,  one  for  three  years,  one  for  two  years,  and  one  for  one 
year,  and  thereafter  as  the  terms  of  office  expire  in  each  year 
one  member  for  a  term  of  five  years.  Vacancies  in  the  com- 
mission shall  be  filled  for  the  unexplred  term  by  the  governor 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council.  The  members  of 
said  commission  may  be  removed  by  the  governor  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  council  for  such  cause  as  he  shall 
deem  sufficient.  The  chairman  shall  be  designated  by  the 
governor.  His  annual  salary  shall  be  five  thousand  dollars, 
which  shall  be  paid  in  monthly  instalments  by  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton. The  other  members  shall  serve  without  pay. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Finance  Commission  from  time 
to  time  to  investigate  any  and  all  matters  relating  to  appropri- 
ations, loans,  expenditures,  accounts,  and  methods  of  admin- 
istration affecting  the  city  of  Boston  or  the  County  of  Suffolk, 
or  any  department  thereof,  that  may  appear  to  the  commis- 
sion to  require  investigation,  and  to  report  thereon  from  time 
to  time  to  the  mayor,  the  city  council,  the  governor  or  the 
general  court.  The  commission  shall  make  an  annual  report 
in  January  of  each  year  to  the  general  court. 

Whenever  any  pay  roll,  bill,  or  other  claim  against  the 
city  is  presented  to  the  mayor,  city  auditor,  or  the  city  treas- 
urer, he  shall,  if  the  same  seems  to  him  to  be  of  doubtful 
validity,  excessive  in  amount,  or  otherwise  contrary  to  the 
city's  interest,  refer  it  to  the  finance  commission,  which  shall 
immediately  investigate  the  facts  and  report  thereon;  and 
pending  said  report  payment  shall  be  withheld. 

The  said  commission  is  authorized  to  employ  such  ex- 
perts, counsel  and  other  assistants,  and  to  incur  such  other 
expenses  as  it  may  deem  necessary,  and  the  same  shall  be 
paid  by  said  city  upon^requisition  by  the  commission,  not  ex- 
ceeding in  the  aggregate  in  any  year  the  sum  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars,  or  such  additional  sums  as  may  be  appropri- 
ated for  the  purpose  by  the  city  council  and  approved  by  the 

195 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

mayor.  A  sum  sufficient  to  cover  the  salary  of  the  chair- 
man of  the  commission  and  the  further  sum  of  at  least  twen- 
ty-five thousand  dollars  to  meet  the  expenses  as  aforesaid 
shall  be  appropriated  each  year  by  said  city.  The  commission 
shall  have  the  same  right  to  incur  expenses  in  anticipation 
of  its  appropriation  as  if  it  were  a  regular  department  of  said 
city. 

For  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  said  commission  to  per- 
form the  duties  and  carry  out  the  objects  herein  contem- 
plated, and  to  enable  the  mayor,  the  city  council,  -the  gov- 
ernor, or  the  general  court  to  receive  the  reports  and  findings 
of  said  commission  as  a  basis  for  such  laws,  ordinances  or 
administrative  orders  as  may  be  deemed  meet,  the  commis- 
sion shall  have  all  the  powers  and  duties  enumerated  in  Chap- 
ter 562  of  the  acts  of  the  year  1908  and  therein  conferred 
upon  the  commission  designated  in  said  act;  but  counsel  for 
any  witness  at  any  public  hearing  may  ask  him  any  perti- 
nent question  and  may  offer  pertinent  evidence  through  other 
witnesses  subject  to  cross-examination  by  the  commission  and 
its  counsel. 

The  new  commission  authorized  by  the  above  act,  organ- 
ized itself  on  June  24,  1909,  and  prepared  to  continue  the  work 
of  its  predecessor.  It  was  realized,  however,  that  the  new 
commission  would  not  be  obliged  to  investigate  past  methods 
and  practices;  its  duties  would  consist  chiefly  of  keeping  cur- 
rent watch  over  the  administration  of  the  city's  business. 

Since  1909  the  work  of  the  commission  has  divided  itself 
into  three  classes : 

1.  Reports  to  the  Governor,  to  the  General  Court  and 
to  the  committees  thereof  on  legislative  bills  affecting  the 
financial  interests  of  Boston. 

2.  Constructive  reports  to  the  mayor,  city  council,  and  the 
school  committee  recommending  economical  improvements  in 
the  departments  of  the  city  so  as  to  reduce  the  administrative 
cost  thereof. 

3.  Critical  reports  to  the  city  government  on  particular 
acts  of  maladministration  in  various  municipal  departments. 

The  scope  of  the  work  of  the  commission  is  so  broad  and 
the  lines  of  studies  so  varied  that  to  give  an  exact  description 
of  them  would  involve  a  list  of  the  reports  which  have  ap- 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

peared  in  its  annual  volumes  from  1910.  It  is  sufficient  com- 
mentary on  tKe  work  of  the  commission  to  state  that  the  net 
debt  of  the  city  has  actually  decreased  in  the  last  eight  years 
and  the  borrowing  of  money  outside  of  the  debt  limit  has 
practically  ceased.  Furthermore,  the  old  and  ancient  custom 
of  an  annual  "pork  barrel"  loan  bill  has  passed  away  and  not 
once  has  an  attempt  been  made  to  revive  it. 

Among  some  of  the  large  achievements  of  the  commission 
are  its  report  on  the  survey  made  on  the  Boston  school  sys- 
tem in  1911  and  the  report  recommending  the  adoption  by  the 
city  of  Boston  of  the  segregated  budget  system.  The  latter 
system  was  adopted  in  1918  and  has  thus  far  demonstrated 
its  usefulness  for  the  city. 

The  school  department  has-  cooperated  cordially  in  the 
commission's  investigation  of  its  departments  and  recently 
a  new  survey  has  been  made  of  the  school  system,  the  results 
of  which  will  shortly  be  published  by  the  commission. 

The  annual  appropriation  of  the  commission  amounts  to 
approximately  $30,000  and  the  commission  has  on  its  staff  a 
permanent  force  of  eight  employees. 

PUBLICATIONS 

The  Finance  Commission  of  the  city  of  Boston.  Appointments,  or- 
ganization and  communications.  [Reports]  vol.  I.  Boston, 
Municipal  printing  office,  1908.  560  p. 

Reports  and  communications,    vol.  II.     Boston,  1909.    304  p. 
Contents. 

Test  run  of  the  Chestnut  Hill  stone  crusher. 

Municipal  printing  plant. 

System    of   publishing   city   documents   and    the   necessity   of 

establishing  a  new  statistics  department. 
History  of  the  city  waterworks  and  the  management  of  the 

Water  department. 

Health  department    [and]    report  of  the  special  committee. 
New  city  hall. 
Sanitary   department    [and]    report   of   Mr.   X.   Henry   Good- 

nough. 

Sinking  funds. 
City  debt. 
Final  report  of  the  Finance  commission  [on  the  condition  of 

the  city  government],  Jan.  29,  1909,  p.  175-258. 
[Reports]  vol.  III.    Reports  of  Metcalf  &  Eddy,  consulting  civil  en- 

fineers,  upon  the  Water  department,  the  Sewer  division  of  the 
treet   department,    and   miscellaneous    matters.      Boston,    1909. 
1226  p.  tables    (part,   fold.),  diagrs.    (part.   fold.). 

I97 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

[Reports]  vol.  IV.  Report  of  Samuel  Whinery,  consulting  civil  en- 
gineer, upon  the  Street  department.  Boston,  1909.  333  p.  tables, 
(part.  fold.). 

Appointments,  organization  and  communications.  [Reports]  vol.  V. 
Boston,  1910.  143  p. 

[This  is  the  first  volume  of  the  new  Finance  commission,  ap- 
pointed June  23,  1909.     "It  has  been  numbered  five,  so  as  to 
present  all  the  reports  of  both  commissions  in  a  single  continu- 
ous series."] 
Contents. 

Report  to  the  General  court,  p.  5-42. 

Official  communications  to  the  city  government,  p.  43-94. 
(Contains  sections  on  political  activity  of  city  employees  and 
on  penal  institutions  department.) 

Summary  of  specific  recommendations  made  by  the  former 
Finance  commission  with  a  record  of  the  action  taken  there- 
on, p.  95-I39; 

Reports  and  communications,    vol.  VI.    Boston,  1911.    252  p. 
Partial  Contents. 

Increase  in  city's  pay  roll  and  decrease  in  efficiency  of  day 

labor  force. 

Soldier's  relief  department. 
Elementary  school  accommodations. 
Contract  for  gas  lighting. 
Street  lighting  situation. 
Influence  of  politics  in  appointments. 
Department  of  public  works. 
Taxing  unearned  increment  of  land. 
Cost  of  water  bridges. 
Proposed  consolidation  of  the  bath,  music,  public  grounds  and 

park  departments. 

Abolition  of  the  Registry  department. 
Rejection  of  the  civil  pension  act. 

Reports  and  communications,    vol.  VII.    Boston,  1912.    320,  256  p. 
Partial  Contents. 

Children's  institutions  department. 
Consumptive's  hospital  department. 
Indebtedness  of  the  city  of  Boston. 
Protection  against  fire. 
Lighting  the  streets  with  gas. 
Bids  for  supplying  coal  to  the  city  of  Boston. 
Licenses  for  private  uses  of  the  public  streets. 
High  pressure  water  service. 
Pensions  in  the  Fire  department. 
Cost  of  minor's  licenses. 

General  pension  act  for  city  employees  and  laborers. 
Central  power  and  heating  plant. 
Contract  for  disposal  of  city  refuse. 
Land  court. 

Report  of  the  Boston  school  system.     Boston,  1911.    256  p. 
Reports  and  communications,    vol.  VIII.    Boston,  1913.    205  p. 
Contents. 

Appointments  to  the  Collecting  department. 

198 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

Collection  of  money  on  bail  bonds,  etc. 

Administration  of  the  Bath  department. 

The  Ferry  service. 

Street  lighting  situation. 

Automobile  apparatus  for  the  fire  department. 

A  municipal  garage. 

Building  department. 

Payments  for  overtime. 

Reports  and  communications,    vol.  IX.    Boston,  1914.    240  p. 
Partial  Contents. 

Licenses  for  stands  for  sight-seeing  automobiles. 

Pensioning  of  veterans  who  had  ceased  to  be  employees  of  the 
city. 

Participation  by  members  of  the  City  council  in  the  executive 
and  administrative  business  of  the  city. 

Reforms  in  the  Ferry  division  by  the  Public  works  department. 
Reports  and  communications,     vol.  X.     Boston,  1915.     294  p. 
Contents. 

Vacations  for  city  laborers. 

Concession  privileges. 

Standardization  of  salaries  of  city  and  county  employees. 

Purchase  of  clothing  for  city  employees. 

Payments  for  overtime. 

System  of  purchasing  supplies  in  Boston. 

Automatic  lighting  devices  for  street  lamps. 
Reports  and  communications,    vol.  XL     Boston,  1916.     394  p. 
Contents. 

Reorganization  of  the  Health  department. 

The  city  budget. 

Increase  in  the  tax  limit  of  Boston. 

Condition  of  streets  in  Boston. 

High  pressure  water  service  installation. 

Street  construction  in  Boston. 

Cost  of  city  passenger  automobiles. 

Adoption  of  check  paying  system  for  city  employees. 
Reports  and  communications,     vol.  XII.     Boston,  1917.    486  p. 
Contents. 

Floor  preservatives. 

Granting  one  day  off  in  three  to  firemen. 

Segregated  budget. 

Payment  of  city  employees  by  check. 

The  Boston  school  department,  p.  159-222. 

Letter  to  the  Boston  Finance  commission  from  James  H.  Van 
Sickle,  chairman  of  the  Survey  committee  [presenting  a  re- 
port of  a  study  of  certain  phases  of  the  public  school  system 
of  Boston,  made  under  the  auspices  of  the  Boston  Finance 
commission],  p.  223-443. 
[Published  also  as  Document  87-1916,  in  a  volume  of  219 

pages.] 

The  reorganization  of  the  administration  of  schools. 
Reorganization  of  District  supervision. 
The  High  School  situation. 
Special  departments. 

199 


r 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Vocational  education. 

Vocational  needs  of  Boston  children. 

Expenditures  for  school  purposes  in  Boston  compared  with 

expenditures  in  other  large  American  cities. 
Construction  of  school  buildings. 

Annual  reports,  1910 — date  (Public  Doc.  No.  88).  [First  annual 
report  is  for  the  period  ending  Jan.  31,  1910.] 

Chicago,  111. :  Commission  on  City  Expenditures.  In  1909 
provision  was  made  by  the  city  government  of  Chicago  for  a 
special  commission  to  make  a  thorough  study  of  city  expen- 
ditures with  a  view  to  making  recommendations  looking  to 
the  more  economic  and  efficient  expenditure  of  the  city's 
money.  This  commission  was  duly  appointed  August  19, 
1909,  and  was  popularly  known  as  the  "Merriam  Commission" 
after  its  chairman,  Professor  C.  E.  Merriam,  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago. 

This  commission  proved  to  be  a  very  energetic  body. 
During  the  balance  of  the  year  1909  and  1910  it  made  an 
investigation  of  the  expenditures  of  nearly  all  the  city  de- 
partments, the  results  of  which  were  embodied  in  twenty-one 
reports.  Seventeen  of  these  reports  were  at  once  published  in 
pamphlet  form.  The  remaining  four  reports  were  subse- 
quently published  by  the  Chicago  Bureau  of  Public  Efficiency. 
In  April,  1911,  the  commission  was  deemed  to  have  been 
abolished  as  a  result  of  the  change  which  then  took  place  in 
the  city  administration.  The  work  of  the  commission,  how- 
ever, was  continued  by  the  Efficiency  Division  of  the  Chicago 
Civil  Service  Commission  and  the  Chicago  Bureau  of  Public 
Efficiency,  both  of  which  organizations  owed  their  creation 
directly  to  the  impetus  given  to  the  work  of  governmental 
research  by  that  commission. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Preliminary  report  ...  on  the  purchase  of  castings  from  the  Cum- 
mings  foundry  company  by  the  business  agent  on  requisitions 
from  the  Department  of  public  works,  1907-1909.  Chicago,  1910. 
19  p. 

Preliminary  report  on  Southwest  land  and  lake  tunnel  system.     1910. 

43.  P- 

Preliminary  report  on  street  paving.     1910.    34  p. 

Preliminary  report  on  the  building  department.     1910.    23  p. 

Preliminary  report  on  the  Business  agent's  office  of  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago. 1910.  16  p. 

200 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

Preliminary  report  on  the  Department  of  electricity.     1910.    40  p. 

Preliminary  report  on  the  Division  of  bridges  and  harbors.  Dept. 
of  public  works.  1910.  32  p. 

Preliminary  report  on  the  House  of  correction.     1910.     40  p. 

Preliminary  report  on  the  McGovern  street  repair  contract  of  1908. 
1910.  31  p. 

Preliminary  report  on  the  Police  department.     1910.     18  p. 

Preliminary  reports  on  purchase  of  lumber,  budget  making,  Law- 
rence avenue  sewer,  Bureau  of  sewers,  City  clerk's  office,  pur- 
chase of  coal.  1910.  90  p. 

Preliminary  report  on  the  Fire  department.     1910.     53  p. 

The  water  works  systems  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  Report  of  Dabney 
H.  Maury  to  the  Chicago  Commission  on  city  expenditures. 
Pub.  by  the  Chicago  bureau  of  public  efficiency.  Dec.,  1911. 
52  p.  fold,  tables.  . 

Bureau  of  streets  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  Report  of  Richard  T.  Fox 
to  the  Chicago  Commission  on  city  expenditures.  Pub.  by  Chi- 
cago bureau  of  public  efficiency.  Dec.,  1911.  p.  7-36. 

The  Civil  service  commission  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  Report  of 
Russell  Whitman  [and  others]  to  the  Chicago  Commission  on 
city  expenditures.  (In  its  Bureau  of  streets,  etc.  Pub.  by  Chi- 
cago bureau  of  public  efficiency,  Dec.,  1911.  p.  37-78.) 

Special  assessment  accounting  system  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  Re- 
port of  T.  W.  Betak  to  the  Chicago  Commission  on  city  expendi- 
tures. (In  its  Bureau  of  streets,  etc.  Pub.  by  Chicago  bureau 
of  public  efficiency,  Dec.,  1911.  p.  79-112.) 


Chicago,  111.:  Efficiency  Division  of  the  Civil  Service 
Commission.  The  Civil  Service  Commission  of  Chicago  at 
the  time  of  the  creation  of  the  Commission  on  City  Expendi- 
tures, an  account  of  which  has  just  been  given,  had  established 
an  enviable  record  for  public-spirited  and  energetic  action  for 
municipal  reform.  In  1909,  as  the  result  of  the  disclosure  of 
conditions  in  the  city  government  by  that  commission,  pro- 
vision was  made  by  the  city  council  for  the  creation  of  a  per- 
manent efficiency  division  that  should  be  a  part  of  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Civil  Service  Commission.  This  division  was 
organized  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  J.  L.  Jacobs.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  $30,000  a  year  was  appropriated  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  for  the  support  of  this  division.  Under  the 
energetic  and  capable  direction  of  Mr.  Jacobs  a  large  amount 
of  research  work  of  the  highest  order  was  done.  Regarding 
this  work  a  writer  in  the  National  Municipal  Review  had  the 
following  to  say  i1 

1  National  Municipal  Review,  Vol.  IV,  No.  14.    Oct.,  1915,  p.  662. 

2OI 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  permanent  staff  of  experts  and  investigators  which 
were  recruited  from  the  civil  service  eligible  registers  has,  at 
the  request  of  the  council,  the  finance  and  other  committees 
thereof,  and  of  department  heads,  investigated  and  reported 
on  the  organization  activities  and  methods  of  practically  every 
department  of  the  city  government. 

During  this  period,  in  cooperation  with  the  council  and 
the  department  heads,  civil  service  administration  has  been 
raised  to  a  high  business  standard,  conditions  of  employment 
improved,  both  as  to  service  rendered  and  opportunities  of 
employees,  and  various  measures  adopted  look  toward  effec- 
tive and  responsible  government  administration. 

In  such  inquiries  it  was  found  that  the  information  thus 
obtained,  beyond  the  specific  result  in  view,  has  been  vital, 
first,  to  the  finance  committee  and  the  council  in  determining 
judicious  apportionment  of  the  $40,000,000  appropriated 
each  year;  second,  to  the  departments  and  bureaus  in  secur- 
ing and  maintaining  efficient  administration;  and  third,  to 
the  civil  service  commission  in  the  proper  selection  and  con- 
trol of  the  service  and  the  promotion  and  separation  of  em- 
ployees. The  efficiency  division  had  become  an  integral  part 
of  the  municipal  government,  acting  as  a  coordinating  force 
as  between  departments  and  council  committees.  With  a 
broad  and  general  view  of  the  entire  activities  of  the  city  ad- 
ministration, it  was  in  a  position  to  aid  the  different  branches 
of  the  service  in  the  preparation  of  estimates  and  the  annual 
budget,  to  solving  problems  of  employment,  management 
and  methods. 

Notwithstanding  the  general  recognition  of  the  value  of 
this  work,  and  of  the  work  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission 
generally,  the  new  administration  which  came  into  office  in 
1915,  adopted  the  policy  of  destroying  the  work  of  the  com- 
mission as  far  as  possible.  New  members  were  appointed  to 
the  commission  who  were  willing  to  carry  out  this  policy. 
One  of  its  first  acts  was  the  abolition  of  the  Efficiency  Di- 
vision. The  reason  assigned  was  "lack  of  work  and  funds." 
This,  despite  the  fact  that  appropriations  in  the  1915  budget 
were  available,  that  five  investigations  were  under  way,  and 
a  request  for  the  beginning  of  six  other  surveys  had  been  made 
by  the  city  council  finance  committee.  The  real  reasons  were 
undoubtedly  of  a  purely  political  character. 

202 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

Later  the  work  of  the  Efficiency  Division  was  transferred 
to  the  committee  on  finance  of  the  council,  which  has  organ- 
ized a  staff  for  its  performance. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Final  report  of  the  Municipal  efficiency  commission,  city  of  Chicago — 

1909-1911.     [Chicago,  1911?]     41  p. 

Report  on  the  Department  of  buildings,  city  of  Chicago.  Inquiry 
conducted  at  request  of  Mr.  Henry  Ericsson,  commissioner  of 
buildings,  December  28,  1911,  to  May  6,  1912.  Conditions,  meth- 
ods and  systems  in  use — organization — conclusions  and  recom- 
mendation. [Chicago,  Western  newspaper  union,  1912.]  59  p. 
charts. 

Final  report  police  investigation.  Inquiry  conducted  by  authority 
of  His  honor,  Carter  H.  Harrison,  Mayor,  Sept.  5,  1911,  to 
March  7,  1912.  Details  of  vice  investigation — departmental 
analysis — reorganization  plan- — conclusions  and  recommenda- 
tions. [Chicago,  Western  newspaper  union,  1912.]  54  p.  3  i. 
Analysis  of  employment  and  charts  showing  departmental  organiza- 
tions and  distribution  of  employees,  city  of  Chicago,  March, 
1913.  Outline  report  of  work  of  the  Efficiency  division,  Civil 
service  commission,  1909-1912.  [Chicago,  Western  newspaper 
union,  1913.]  99  p.  incl.  charts  (part.  fold.). 
Contents. 

Analysis  of  employment — 1913. 
Outline  report  of  work  of  the  Efficiency  division. 
Departmental  organization  and  distribution  charts. 
Reports  on  the  Department  of  electricity,  city  of  Chicago.    Inquiries 
conducted  at  request  of  Mr.  Ray  Palmer,  city  electrician,  May 
24  to  November  29,  1912.     Conditions,  methods  and  systems  in 
use  and  organization  of  the  Department  of  electricity.  [Chicago, 
Barnard  and  Miller,  1913.]     40  p.  incl.  charts  (part  fold.). 
Contents. 

Report  on  investigation  of  the  organization  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  electricity. 

Report  on  investigation  of  the  Interior  wiring  bureau. 
Report  on  investigation  of  police  powers  of  employees  in  elec- 
trical department. 
Report  on  investigation  of  storehouse  and  yard — construction 

and  maintenance  division. 
Report  on  the  gas  meter  testing  division. 

Report  on  the  investigation  of  engineer  and  janitor  service,  Board 
of  education,  city  of  Chicago.  Inquiry  conducted  at  the  request 
of  the  Board  of  education,  May  I,  1913,  to  September  5,  1913. 
Compensation,  conditions,  organization,  administrative  and  effi- 
ciency control — conclusions  and  recommendations.  [Chicago, 
J9i3-]  71  P-  tables. 

Reports  on  the  Bureau  of  streets,  Department  of  public  works,  city 
of  Chicago.  Investigations  conducted  at  the  order  of  the  City 
council  and  at  the  request  of  the  commissioner  of  public  works, 
April  21,  1913 — October  15,  1913.  Methods,  systems,  standards 

203 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

and  schedules  of  service — bases  of  estimates  and  appropriations — 
administrative  questions,  organization  of  the  Bureau  of  streets 
and  of  other  departments  having  similar  activities  .  .  .  [Chicago, 
H.  G.  Adair,  1913.]  113  p.  plans,  tables,  diagrs. 
Reports  on  the  budget  of  educational  estimates  and  expenditures, 
Board  of  education,  city  of  Chicago.  Educational  budget  pre- 
pared by  the  Efficiency  division  .  .  .  February  27,  1914,  to  May 
2,  1914.  [Chicago,  J.  F.  Higgins,  printer,  1914.]  49  p.  incl. 
tables. 

Partial  Contents. 

Classification  of  standard  accounts. 
Report  on  procedure  in  preparation  of  budgets  and  accounting 

control. 

Rules  governing  compensation  of  civil  service  employees. 
Report   on   the   budget   of   educational    estimates   and   expenditures, 
Board  of  education,  city  of  Chicago.     Educational  budget  pre- 
pared by  the  Efficiency  division  .  .  .  February  27,  1914,  to  May 
2,  1914  .  .  .  [Chicago,  J.  F.  Higgins,  printer,  1914.]     558  p. 
Contents   [same  as  in  edition  above,   except  that  detailed  esti- 
mates are  given  for  each  organization  unit]. 

Report  on  the  investigation  of  prison  labor  and  management,  House 
of  correction,  city  of  Chicago.  Inquiry  conducted  at  the  request 
of  the  Committee  on  finance,  December  u,  1913,  to  March  24, 
1914.  Statutory  provisions,  organization,  management,  record 
system,  inmates  and  prisoners,  contract  labor,  extension  of  in- 
dustries, present  industries — conclusions  and  recommendations. 
[Chicago,  Cameron,  Amberg  &  co.,  printers,  1914.]  66  p.  incl. 
illus.,  plan,  tables. 

Report  on  the  investigation  into  organization  and  administration, 
Department  of  health,  city  of  Chicago.  Inquiry  conducted  at 
the  request  of  Dr.  George  B.  Young,  Commissioner  of  health — 
May  26,  1914,  to  April  19,  1915.  Statutory  and  ordinance  pro- 
visions, organization,  administration,  methods  of  procedure, 
equipment  conditions,  records  and  systems — conclusions  and  rec- 
ommendations. [Chicago,  W.  J.  Hartman  co.,  printers,  1915.] 
160  p.  charts,  tables. 

Milwaukee,  Wis. :  Bureau  of  Economy  and  Efficiency  and 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  In  1910  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic Party  succeeded  in  gaining  control  of  the  government 
of  Milwaukee.  A  leading  feature  of  its  program  was  that  of 
subjecting  the  government  of  the  city  to  study  with  a  view 
to  perfecting  its  organization  and  methods  of  business.  By 
a  resolution  of  June  14,  1910,  the  Committee  on  Finance  of  the 
Common  Council  of  the  City  of  Milwaukee  was  directed  "to 
investigate  the  system  of  accounts  of  all  departments  of  the 
City  of  Milwaukee  and  the  operations  and  activities  of  all  de- 
partments and  powers  granted  to  the  city,"  and  to  submit  to 

204 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

the  council  for  adoption  "a  complete  system  of  uniform  ac- 
counts, vouchers  and  other  forms  that  may  be  necessary  or 
convenient  for  carrying  out  such  system  and  recommendations 
for  rendering  more  efficient  and  economical  the  administra- 
tion of  the  city."  For  expenses  connected  with  the  preparation 
of  this  report  $5,000  was  appropriated. 

To  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  resolution  and  appro- 
priation there  was  created  an  organization  with  the  title  "Mil- 
waukee Bureau  of  Economy  and  Efficiency."  This  body  in 
May,  1911,  issued  a  bulletin  in  which  it  discussed  proposed 
plans  of  work,  and  indicated  the  studies  and  researches  which 
it  intended  to  make. 

In  1912  a  change  of  government  took  place.  The  idea 
of  subjecting  the  government  to  a  thorough  overhauling  had 
such  a  strong  popular  support  that  the  new  administration 
declared  its  intention  to  continue  the  work  projected  by  the 
bureau.  Though  it  abolished  the  bureau  it  created  in.  its  place 
a  new  bureau  under  the  title  of  "Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search." 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  publications  of  these  two  bureaus : 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin,  No.   1-19.     Milwaukee,  Wis.,   1911-1912. 
Contents. 

No.     I.     Plan   and  methods   in  municipal   efficiency,   by   B.   M. 

Rastall.     1911.     29  p. 

No.     2.     Proposed  consolidation  of  fire  and  police  alarm  tele- 
graph system,  by  J.  E.  Treleven.     1911.    23  p. 
No.     3.     Garnishment  of  wages.     1911.    27  p.    Pub.  by  the  Wis- 
consin Consumer's  league. 

No.     4.     Proposed  minimum  wage  law  for  Wisconsin  .  .  .  Pre- 
pared for  the  Wisconsin  consumer's  league  under  the 
direction  of  J.  R.  Commons,  1911.     18  p. 
(This  bulletin  was  not  published  by  the  Bureau,  but 

simply  included  in  its  series.) 
No.     5.     The  refuse  incinerator,  by  M.  Cerf  [and  others].    1911. 

75  P- 
No.     6.     Citizens'  free  employment  bureau,  by  F.  A.  King.    1911. 

J5  P- 

No.  7.  Free  legal  aid,  by  F.  A.  King.  1911.  16  p. 
No.  8.  The  newsboys  of  Milwaukee.  1911.  96  p. 
No.  9.  Guide  to  exhibit  and  a  review  of  the  Bureau's  work. 

Loan    exhibit    of    the    Census    bureau.     Milwaukee 

budget  exhibit,  Auditorium.     Nov.  27~Dec.  3,   1911. 

12  p.  . 

205 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

No.  10.     Plumbing  and  house  drain  inspection,  by  F.  H.  Elwell. 

19".     33  P- 
No.  II.     Water   works   efficiency      i.   Water   works   survey,   by 

Ray  Palmer  [and  others].     1911.    39  p. 
No.  12.     Reorganization  of  the  system  of  garbage  collection,  by 

R.  E.  Goodell,  1912.     24  p. 
No.  13.     Health  department,     i.  Milk  supply,  by   S.  M.   Gunn. 

1912.     45  p. 
No.  14.     Water  works  efficiency.    2.  Present  capacity  and  future 

requirements,  by  F.  E.  Turneaure.     1912.    30  p. 
No.  15.     Health  department.     2.  Education  and  publications,  by 

S.  M.  Gunn,  and  F.  W.  Luening.     1912. 
No.  16.     Water    works    efficiency.      3.  Operating    efficiency,    by 

Ray  Palmer.     1912.    30  p. 

No.  17.     Recreation  survey,  by  Rowland  Haynes.    1912.    31  p. 
No.  18.     Health   department.     3.  Communicable  diseases,  by  S. 

M.  Gunn.     1912.     37  p. 
No.  19.     Eighteen  months'  work  of  the  Milwaukee   Bureau  of 

economy  and  efficiency,  by  J.  R.   Commons.     1912. 

44  P- 

Standardization  of  salaries  of  the  city  of  Milwaukee.  Report  of  the 
Bureau  of  municipal  research,  November  4,  1913.  [Milwaukee, 
Wetzel  bros.  printing  co.,  1913.]  96  p.  incl.  tables,  forms,  fold, 
charts. 

Efficiency  and  economy  in  municipal  work  by  modern  type  of  equip- 
ment. Milwaukee,  Wis.,  Bureau  of  municipal  research,  1915. 

37  P- 

Milwaukee's  ash  problem,  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  .  .  . 

Milwaukee,  C.  H.  Kronenberger  &  Co.,  1915].  45  p.  incl.  plans. 
Annual  report,  1914 — 15.  Milwaukee,  1915 — 

Full  title  of  report  for  1914-15:  Annual  report,  Bureau  of  mu- 
nicipal research,  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin. 


New  York,  N.  Y. :  Commissioner  of  Accounts.  The  large 
powers  of  central  administrative  control  over  the  government 
of  the  city  of  New  York  actually  exercised  by  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment  and  by  the  comptroller  through 
special  agencies,  as  set  forth  in  a  subsequent  section  of  this 
volume,  doubtless  make  less  necessary  in  this  city  than  in 
others,  where  a  less  degree  of  central  control  obtains,  a  purely 
investigative  agency.  The  city  charter  nevertheless  makes 
provision  for  the  Commissioners  of  Accounts,  appointed  by  the 
mayor,  who  have  wide  powers  of  investigation  and  report. 
While  the  charter  makes  provision  for  two  commissioners,  it 
has  been  the  custom  since  1909  for  the  mayor  to  appoint  but 
one. 

Regarding  the  interpretation  placed  upon  these  provisions, 

206 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

a  report1  prepared  by  the  Commissioner  of  Accounts'  office 
has  this  to  say  : 

The  work  of  the  Commissioner  of  Accounts'  Office  is  not 
limited  to  ferreting  out  irregularities  and  obtaining  evidence 
of  inefficiency  or  dishonesty;  it  includes  also  budget  inves- 
tigation, the  study  of  important  administrative  problems  and 
assisting  in  reorganizing  bureaus  or  departments  to  secure 
greater  economy  and  efficiency.  The  efficiency  staff  formerly 
under  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  has  recently 
been  transferred  to  the  Commissioner  of  Accounts.  The 
staff  is  conducting  efficiency  studies  looking  toward  the 
standardization  of  work  processes  in  the  various  departments. 

The  foregoing  may  be  supplemented  by  the  following  ap- 
preciation of  its  work  contained  in  a  report  on  New  York 
City's  Administrative  Progress, 


Continuously  through  the  past  two  years,  the  commis- 
sioner of  accounts,  in  addition  to  carrying  on  his  own  work, 
has  supplied  several  members  of  his  staff  to  assist  in  con- 
structive work  under  the  direction  of  the  chamberlain  and 
to  investigate  and  report  on  current  administrative  matters 
referred  to  the  chamberlain  by  the  mayor.  He  has  also  as- 
sisted the  various  heads  of  departments  in  their  work  of  re- 
organization. Especially  noteworthy  assistance  has  been  ren- 
dered to  the  commission  on  pensions  in  its  investigation  of 
the  city's  pension  funds,  and  to  the  temporary  central  pur- 
chase committee  organized  to  purchase  supplies  on  contract 
for  all  departments  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  mayor.  The 
commissioner  of  accounts  has  cooperated  in  the  preparation 
of  the  annual  budget  by  detailing  examiners  to  analyze  de- 
partmental requests  prior  to  their  approval  by  the  mayor  for 
submission  to  the  board  of  estimate  and  apportionment.  The 
volume  of  constructive  work  done  by  the  office  is  greater 
than  that  done  at  any  previous  period  and  indicates  the  neces- 
sity for  continuing  as  a  branch  of  the  executive  force  an  ad- 
ministrative staff  to  deal  with  general  questions  of  a  con- 
structive nature. 

1  Government  of  the  City  of  New  York  :  A  Survey  of  its  Organi- 
zation and  Functions,  1915. 
a  P.  203. 

207 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Probably  the  most  important  report  made  by  this  office 
is  the  one  prepared,  in  collaboration  with  the  New  York 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  for  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  1915  on  the  Government  of  the  City  of  New  York: 
A  Survey  of  its  Organization  and  Functions. 

In  1915  the  office,  in  cooperation  with  the  chamberlain, 
made  a  critical  study  of  the  county  government  within  the  city 
of  New  York  and  recommended  the  consolidation  of  county 
offices  and  the  merger  of  certain  of  them  with  offices  of  the 
city  government.  It  was  estimated  that  the  adoption  of  these 
recommendations  would  result  in  a  saving  of  over  $2,000,000 
annually. 

""During  the  administration  of  Mayor  Mitchel,  1913-1917, 
an  additional  agency  for  investigation  existed  in  the  office 
of  the  city  chamberlain.  That  office  had  for  years  been  rec- 
ognized as  a  sinecure,  to  be  filled  by  a  purely  political  appoint- 
l\  ment.  Mayor  Mitchel  took  advantage  of  the  existence  of 
this  office,  required  by  the  charter,  to  appoint  to  it  Mr.  Henry 
Bruere,  then  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  and  designating  him  as  a  sort  of  assistant  to  the 
mayor  in  matters  of  administrative  reform.  Under  Mr. 
Bruere's  direction,  and  in  large  measure  in  collaboration  with 
/  the  office  of  the  Commissioner  of  Accounts,  a  number  of  in- 
vestigations in  various  branches  of  the  city's  administration 
were  made,  and  many  important  changes  effected.  Account 
of  these  is  given  in  a  report  issued  by  the  chamberlain  in  1916, 
entitled  New  York  City  Administrative  Progress,  1914-16. 

In  practically  all  of  the  work  above  outlined  the  city  offi- 
cials have  had  the  cooperation  and  assistance  of  the  New 
York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research. 


PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  the  commissioners  of  accounts  transmitting  to  His  Honor 
the  mayor  a  report  of  a  special  examination  of  the  "Bureau  for 
the  collection  of  city  revenue  and  of  markets"  of  the  Finance 
department  to  determine  the  correctness  of  the  returns  made, 
by  corporations  operating  street  surface  and  elevated  railroads, 
to  the  Finance  department,  for  car  license  and  franchise  tax  in  all 
of  the  boroughs  of  Greater  New  York,  from  October  i,  1889, 
to  October  i,  1899.  New  York,  M.  B.  Brown  co.,  printers, 
1901.  i  p.  I.,  viii,  277  p.  incl.  fold,  tables. 

A  report  on  a  special  examination  of  the  accounts  and  methods  oi 

208 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

the  office  of  the  president  of  the  borough  of  Manhattan,  directed 
by  Hon.  George  B.  McClellan,  mayor.  Commissioners  of  ac- 
counts of  the  city  of  New  York,  July  16,  1907.  [New  York,  M. 
B.  Brown  press,  1907.]  158  p.  tables  (partly  fold.). 

A  report  on  a  special  examination  of  the  accounts  and  methods  of 
the  night  court  9th  district  city  magistrates'  court,  boroughs  of 
Manhattan  and  the  Bronx.  Directed  by  Hon.  George  B.  McClel- 
lan, mayor.  Commissioners  of  accounts  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
September  3,  1909.  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown  press,  1909.]  117 
p.  incl.  tables  (partly  fold.)  7  facsim. 

A  report  on  a  special  examination  of  the  accounts  and  methods  of 
the  office  of  the  president  of  the  borough  of  Brooklyn,  directed 
by  Hon.  George  B.  McClellan,  mayor  .  .  .  November  23d,  1909. 
[With  testimony.]  [New  York,  1909.]  6  v.  in  5.  pi.,  2  fold, 
tab.,  facsims. 

The  mayor's  eye.  An  investigating  commission  by  the  use  of  which 
the  mayor  obtains  independent  information  as  to  the  records  and 
workings  of  all  departments  of  the  city  and  county  government, 
officially  known  as  Commissioners  of  accounts  .  .  .  New  York, 
Commissioners  of  accounts,  1910.  28  p.  I  1. 

A  report  on  the  progress  of  efficiency  work  in  the  borough  of  Queens 
during  the  year  1912.  [New  York,  E.  D.  St.  George  co.,  1913.] 

[37]  P- 

Report  made  to  the  mayor. 

Government  of  the  city  of  New  York;  a  survey  of  its  organization 
and  functions,  prepared  for  the  Constitutional  convention,  1915, 
by  the  office  of  the  commissioners  of  accounts,  New  York  city, 
and  New  York  Bureau  of  municipal  research.  New  York,  J.  J. 
Little  &  Ives  company,  1915.  i  p.  1.,  v-xxxi,  1343  p. 
Introduction  signed:  Leonard  M.  Wallstein,  commissioner  of  ac- 
counts. 

A  report  on  office  of  city  clerk  and  Board  of  aldermen.  Examination 
and  audit  for  the  period  from  January  I,  1910,  to  September  30, 
1914,  by  Leonard  M.  Wallstein,  commissioner  of  accounts.  [New 
York,  1915.]  12  p.  incl.  tables. 

Report  on  a  study  of  the  effect  of  mandatory  legislation  upon  the 
budget  for  the  year  1915.  June  15,  1915.  Office  of  the  commis- 
sioner of  accounts,  city  of  New  York,  Leonard  M.  Wallstein, 
commissioner.  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown  printing  &  binding- 
co.,  1915.]  i  p.  1.,  ii-xxii  numb.  I.,  I  1.,  77  numb.,  I.  incl. 
tables,  diagrs. 

Report  on  special  examination  of  the  accounts  and  methods  of  the 
Board  of  elections  of  the  city  of  New  York  directed  by  Hon. 
John  Purroy  Mitchel,  mayor.  Office  of  the  commissioner  of  ac- 
counts city  of  New  York  .  .  .  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown  printing 
&  binding  co.,  1915.]  47  p. 
Leonard  M.  Wallstein,  commissioner  of  accounts. 

Report  on  special  examination  of  the  accounts  and  methods  of  the 
office  of  the  coroner  in  the  city  of  New  York,  directed  by  Hon. 
John  Purroy  Mitchel,  mayor.  Office  of  the  commissioner  of  ac- 
counts, city  of  New  York.  Leonard  M.  Wallstein,  commissioner 
of  accounts.  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown  printing  and  binding 
co.,  1915.]  82  p. 

209 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Study  of  county  government  within  the  city  of  New  York  and  a 
plan  for  its  reorganization.  Prepared  for  the  Constitutional 
convention,  1915,  by  the  commissioner  of  accounts  and  the  city 
chamberlain,  New  York  City  .  .  .  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown, 
printing  and  binding  co.,  1915.]  v  p.,  I  I.,  43  p.  charts.,  fold, 
tables,  diagrs.  (i  fold.). 

Henry   Bruere,   city  chamberlain,   Leonard  M.   Wallstein,   com- 
missioner of  accounts. 

The  work  of  the  police  surgeons  and  the  retirement  of  policemen  for 
disability.      Leonard    M.    Wallstein,    commissioner    of    accounts. 
[New  York,  J.  J.  Little  &  Ives  co.,  printers,  1915.]     26  p. 
A  report  transmitted  to  the  mayor,  November  24,  1915. 

City  printing.  Economics  proposed  in  the  printing  incident  to  the 
preparation  and  adoption  of  the  annual  city  budget.  Leonard 
M.  Wallstein,  commissioner  of  accounts.  [New  York,  1916.] 

31  P:  . 

The  Division  of  combustibles,  Bureau  of  fire  prevention,  Fire  de- 
partment, city  of  New  York.  An  examination  of  its  accounts 
and  methods.  Leonard  M.  Wallstein,  commissioner  of  accounts. 
[New  York,  M.  B.  Brown  printing  &  binding  co.],  1916.  24  p. 

The  office  of  coroner  in  New  York  City.  Summary  of  the  findings 
of  the  commissioner  of  accounts  in  an  investigation  of  the  office 
and  text  of  an  act  abolishing  the  same  and  creating  the  office  of 
chief  medical  examiner.  New  York,  New  York  short  ballot  as- 
sociation, 1916.  10  p.  (Documents  on  county  government.) 

Bureau  of  supplies,  Department  of  education,  city  of  New  York; 
examination  of  its  accounts  and  methods.  [New  York,  Press  of 
C.  S.  Nathan,  inc.],  1917.  47  numb.  i. 

PUBLICATIONS   OF  BUREAU   OF   CITY   CHAMBERLAIN 

Administrative  reorganization  and  constructive  work  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  city  of  New  York,  1914.  Henry  Bruere,  cham- 
berlain. [New  York,  Press  of  C.  S.  Nathan,  inc.]  1915.  50  p. 

The  reorganization  of  the  office  of  chamberlain,  1914,  by  Henry 
Bruere,  chamberlain  of  the  city  of  New  York.  [New  York,  C.  S. 
Nathan,  inc.,  1915.]  39  p.  chart,  fold.  tab. 

New  York  city's  administrative  progress,  1914-16.  A  survey  of 
various  departments  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  mayor,  con- 
ducted under  the  direction  of  Henry  Bruere,  chamberlain,  city 
of  New  York,  May,  1916.  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown  printing 
&  binding  co.,  1916.]  3,  3a-f,  5-351  p.  plates,  fold.  tab. 

Other  Municipalities.  Undoubtedly  other  municipalities 
have  created  agencies  of  one  kind  or  another  having  for 
their  function  the  taking  of  action  looking  to  the  improvement 
of  their  methods  of  administration.  The  city  of  Los  Angeles, 
California,  thus  created  an  efficiency  department  in  1914.  The 
work  of  this  department  seems  to  have  encountered  strong 
opposition  almost  from  the  start,  and  it  was  finally  abolished 

210 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES:   OFFICIAL 

in  1917.     During  this  period  it  published  the  following  three 
reports : 

1.  The  City  Government  of  Los  Angeles,  Cal.     Organiza- 
tion Charts,  July  i,  1914,  48  charts. 

2.  First  Annual  Report  Los  Angeles  County  Civil  Serv- 
ice Commission  and  Bureau  of  Efficiency  for  the  year  ending 
June  30,  1914. 

3.  City  of  Los  Angeles,  Summary  of  Budget  Estimate  for 
the  Fiscal  Year  1915-1916.     May  2,  1915.     19  p. 

Much  of  course  is  also  done  by  city  comptrollers  and  other 
financial  officers  in  the  way  of  working  out  and  installing  im- 
proved systems  of  accounting  and  reporting.  Among  such 
cities  special  mention  should  be  made  of  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, the  comptroller  of  which  has  not  only  devised  and 
put  into  operation  a  modern  system  of  accounting  and  re- 
porting, but  has  published  an  excellent  manual  of  accounting 
procedure  describing  the  new  system. 


211 


CHAPTER  VIII 

AGENCIES    FOR    INVESTIGATING    THE    ADMIN- 
ISTRATION  OF   PARTICULAR   CITIES: 
UNOFFICIAL 

As  has  been  pointed  out  in  our  introductory  chapter,  in 
which  is  traced  the  development  of  the  modern  movement  for 
efficiency  in  the  administration  of  public  affairs,  the  origin  of 
this  movement  is  to  be  found  in  the  rise  of  the  conviction  that 
good  municipal  government  was  not  to  be  secured  as  a  perma- 
nent possession  by  purely  political  action;  that  the  problem 
of  securing  such  a  government  was  as  much  administrative  as 
political,  and  that  efforts  should  be  more  largely  directed  to- 
wards the  improvement  of  the  actual  machinery  and  methods 
of  administration,  rather  than  to  the  selection  of  the  persons 
who  were  to  operate  such  machinery.  It  was  logical  that  this 
feeling  should  first  develop  in  respect  to  municipal  government ; 
since  it  has  long  been  recognized  that  the  duties  of  such  gov- 
ernment are  primarily  of  a  purely  business  character  and  as 
such  should  be  conducted  upon  a  business  basis. 

This  conviction  that  the  line  of  attack  lay  along  the  im- 
provement of  the  purely  business,  or  non-political  side,  of 
municipal  government  has  led  to  the  creation  in  a  large  num- 
ber of  our  more  important  cities  of  institutions  specially  or- 
ganized and  equipped  for  this  work.  These  institutions  are 
generally  known  as  bureaus  of  municipal  research,  though 
some  of  them  are  differently  designated.  Some  have  been 
established  by  and  are  conducted  under  the  auspices  of  exist- 
ing social  agencies,  such  as  chambers  of  commerce.  Most, 
however,  are  independent  bodies  created  by  a  group  of  citizens 
and  supported  wholly  by  voluntary  donations. 

In  the  following  paragraphs  is  given  an  account  of  the 
establishment,  work  and  publications  of  each  of  these  bureaus 
in  so  far  as  it  was  possible  to  secure  information  regarding 

212 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

them.  In  respect  to  the  matter  of  their  publications,  two  things 
should  be  noted.  The  first  is  that  only  in  small  part  do  the 
results  of  the  work  of  these  bureaus  appear  in  printed  form. 
In  many  cases  the  work  is  done  by  direct  conferences  be- 
tween officers  of  the  bureaus  and  city  officials,  or  by  the  for- 
mer participating  in  the  devising  and  installing  of  improved 
accounting  and  other  business  methods.  In  still  others  the 
results  of  the  inquiries  made  by  the  bureaus  are  embodied  in 
manuscript  reports  which  have  served  their  purpose  when 
presented  to  the  officers  of  the  municipality  interested.  Only 
in  a  relatively  few  cases  are  these  reports  of  a  character  that 
would  warrant  their  publication  in  printed  form.  The  sec- 
ond is  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  material  that  is  printed 
is  issued  for  general  propaganda  purposes  or  to  direct  the 
attention  to  particular  municipal  happenings,  and  thus  has  no 
great  permanent  value.  Material  of  this  character  appears  in 
the  form  of  leaflets  or  folders  issued  at  regular  or  irregular 
intervals  of  time.  No  attempt  has,  therefore,  been  made  to 
list  in  detail  publications  of  this  character. 

The  foregoing  remarks  regarding  the  publication  activities 
of  these  bureaus  have  been  given  in  order  to  make  clear  that 
the  value  of  the  work  of  these  bodies  is  not  to  be  judged  by 
the  amount  and  character  of  their  printed  publications. 

In  a  sense  the  oldest  and  most  important  of  the  class  of 
agencies  treated  in  this  chapter  is  the  New  York  Bureau  of 
Municipal  Research.  For  reasons  there  set  forth,  however, 
this  agency  has  been  treated  in  a  preceding  chapter  as  an 
agency  for  studying  the  problem  of  municipal  administration 
generally. 


Philadelphia,  Pa.:    Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,     The 

first  city  to  follow  the  example  of  New  York  and  create  a 
bureau  of  municipal  research  was  Philadelphia.  The  estab- 
lishment of  this  bureau  was  the  direct  result  of  the  appreci- 
ation on  the  part  of  a  group  of  citizens  of  that  city  of  the 
value  of  the  work  done  in  New  York.  In  1908  the  New  York 
bureau  was  requested  to  lend  its  assistance  in  the  establish- 
ment of  a  similar  bureau  in  Philadelphia.  After  a  prelimi- 
nary visit  by  one  of  the  directors  of  the  New  York  bureau,  a 

213 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

number  of  Philadelphia  citizens  visited  the  New  York  office 
to  discuss  plans.  This  was  followed  by  a  number  of  confer- 
ences, resulting  in  the  pledging  of  a  sum  of  $12,500  for  an  ex- 
perimental period  of  six  months.  The  Philadelphia  bureau 
was  formally  opened  on  November  9,  1908,  by  a  staff  detailed 
from  the  New  York  bureau  under  one  of  the  directors  of 
that  organization. 

Although  some  difficulty  was  experienced  in  the  beginning 
in  getting  the  confidence  and  cooperation  of  the  mayor,  the 
supporters  of  the  movement  were  convinced,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  the  six-month  experimental  period,  that  the  institution 
was  worth  while,  and  accordingly  decided  to  incorporate  a 
local  body  separate  from  the  New  York  bureau,  which  was 
done  in  the  autumn  of  1909. 

The  purpose  of  the  bureau,  as  stated  in  its  charter,  is : 

To  serve  Philadelphia  as  a  non-partisan  and  scientific 
agency  of  citizen  inquiry,  which  shall  collect,  classify,  and  in- 
terpret the  facts  regarding  the  powers,  duties,  limitations,  and 
administrative  problems  of  each  department  of  the  city  gov- 
ernment; to  make  such  information  available  to  public  of- 
ficials and  to  citizens,  in  order  that  inefficient  methods  of  ad- 
ministration may  be  eliminated,  and  efficient  methods  en- 
couraged; and  to  promote  the  development  of  a  constructive 
program  for  the  city  that  shall  be  based  upon  adequate  knowl- 
edge and  consideration  of  community  needs. 

According  to  a  statement  issued  by  the  bureau,  it  accom- 
plishes this  purpose  "by  advancing  sound  methods  of  admin- 
istration and  securing  constructive  publicity  concerning 
municipal  problems."  Its  scope  comprehends  finance  and  ac- 
counts, public  works,  safety,  health,  education  and  charities. 
It  "provides  a  clearing  house  of  information  concerning  pub- 
lic questions  and  government,  maintains  a  trained  staff  to 
study  community  needs  and  community  acts,  submits  unbiased, 
impersonal  scientific  criticism  to  officials  and  citizens,  without 
regard  to  politics  and  personal  favor,"  and  "supplements 
criticism  with  positive  proposals  and  constructive  work."  It 
prepares  descriptive  statements  for  the  officials  responsible 
for  the  governmental  units  surveyed,  gets  the  officials'  verifi- 
cation of  the  facts  as  found,  prepares  critical  and  constructive 

214 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

reports,  and  cooperates  in  installing  the  improvements  recom- 
mended. 

The  governing  body  of  the  bureau  is  a  board  of  twenty- 
three  trustees,  including  the  chairman,  vice-chairman  and 
treasurer.  The  work  of  the  bureau  is  conducted  by  a  director, 
an  assistant  director,  a  secretary,  an  accountant,  a  public 
employment  specialist,  a  civil  engineer,  a  librarian,  a  trained 
investigator  and  statistical  expert. 

The  bureau  usually  has,  in  addition,  a  number  of  volunteer 
staff  members  and  office  assistants  who  are  students  at  col- 
leges in  the  vicinity.  Heretofore,  these  volunteers  were 
usually  engaged  on  general  assignments  under  the  direction  of 
a  staff  member  and  with  opportunities  for  but  little  original 
work,  but  a  new  departure  was  recently  made  whereby  vol- 
unteer students  were  given  special  original  work  for  their 
theses.  The  topics  for  these  theses  were  selected  by  the 
bureau  and  the  theses  must  be  approved  by  the  bureau  before 
they  will  be  accepted  by  the  college  authorities.  Volunteer 
staff  members  are  accepted  only  on  condition  that  they  give  at 
least  fourteen  hours  per  week  to  this  work.  The  results 
of  their  work,  if  deemed  sufficiently  valuable,  will  be  published 
at  the  expense  of  a  special  fund. 

The  work  of  the  bureau  since  its  organization  covers  a 
large  range  of  civic  activity,  the  principal  studies  being  in  the 
fields  of  education,  weights  and  measures,  accounting  and 
finance,  public  health,  civil  service,  public  safety,  public  works, 
etc. 

The  first  important  work  undertaken  by  the  bureau  was  in 
the  field  of  public  education.  In  1909  a  study  was  made  of 
the  Municipal  Bureau  of  Compulsory  Education,  which  bureau 
is  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the  compulsory  school  at- 
tendance and  the  child  labor  laws.  The  result  of  the  study 
was  a  complete  reorganization  of  that  bureau  from  an  ineffi- 
cient service  to  a  model  of  its  kind. 

An  exhaustive  study  of  negro  education  was  undertaken 
by  the  bureau.  The  results  of  the  study,  which  were  pedagog- 
ical and  psychological  rather  than  administrative,  were  pub- 
lished by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  and  the 
recommendations  made  were  influential  in  shaping  the  poli- 

215 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

cies  of  the  Philadelphia  school  authorities  in  the  matter  of 
negro  education. 

Ten  other  educational  studies  were  made  by  the  Philadel- 
phia bureau  resulting  in  pieces  of  work  of  varying  lengths 
and  of  widely  different  degrees  of  importance.  Principal 
among  these  was  a  study  of  special  schools,  resulting  in  a 
complete  reorganization  and  a  study  of  the  Department  of 
Supplies  of  the  Board  of  Education,  which  study  furnished 
the  basis  for  a  radical  change  in  the  organization  and  methods 
of  that  department.  The  bureau  also  prepared  a  complete 
digest  of  all  the  laws,  ordinances  and  regulations  pertaining 
to  the  schools. 

A  study  of  the  weights  and  measures  situation  in  Phila- 
delphia resulted  in  the  enactment  of  state  legislation  for  the 
creation  of  a  bureau  of  weights  and  measures  in  Philadelphia. 

The  field  of  accounting  and  finance  claimed  a  large  part 
of  the  money  and  energy  of  the  bureau.  Prior  to  1909  the 
accounts  of  every  city  department  were,  in  effect,  merely  memo- 
randa of  cash  transactions,  and  there  was  no  systematic  record 
or  control  of  other  assets.  The  bureau  in  cooperation  with 
the  comptroller  brought  about  the  installation  of  modern  fund 
and  expense  accounts  in  the  latter's  office  and  modern  systems 
of  accounting  in  a  number  of  other  departments,  notably  the 
bureaus  of  charities  and  water  and  the  electrical  bureau.  This 
was  facilitated  by  the  preparation  of  a  manual  of  accounting 
by  the  comptroller's  office,  in  cooperation  with  the  bureau, 
which  was  printed  and  distributed  to  the  various  departments. 

The  bureau,  in  cooperation  with  the  comptroller's  depart- 
ment, prepared  a  uniform  classification  and  budget  program 
for  the  city  government  which  was  accepted  by  the  mayor, 
but  adopted  only  in  part  by  the  councils.  This  subject  of 
budget  making  has  been  the  most  costly  single  study  under- 
taken by  the  bureau. 

Numerous  other  accounting  and  financial  studies  have 
been  undertaken  by  the  bureau,  at  least  one  member  of  the 
staff,  and  usually  more,  being  always  engaged  on  some  study 
in  this  field.  These  studies  include  a  calculation  of  the  ex- 
pected borrowing  capacity  of  the  city  for  the  next  ten  years, 
cooperation  with  city  bureaus  in  solving  their  accounting 

216 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

problems,  a  survey  of  the  Board  of  Revision  of  Taxes,  work 
with  the  mayor's  committee  on  new  sources  of  revenue,  and 
a  number  "of  others. 

Among  the  earliest  effective  studies  of  the  bureau  were 
those  made  in  the  City  Department  of  Health  and  Charities. 
In  this  field  the  bureau  prepared  a  digest  of  all  the  laws  and 
ordinances  pertaining  to  public  health  which  was  printed  as 
a  public  document  and  is  in  constant  use  by  the  department. 

A  survey  of  the  Division  of  School  Medical  Inspection 
made  by  the  bureau  resulted  in  a  complete  reorganization  and 
standardization  of  methods. 

An  exhaustive  study  of  the  Milk  Inspection  Service  made 
by  the  bureau  resulted  in  the  appointment,  by  the  mayor,  of 
a  commission  of  six  experts,  which  adopted  the  bureau's  pro- 
posals, bringing  about  a  complete  revision  of  the  milk  regu- 
lations and  a  reorganization  of  the  inspection  procedure.  The 
bureau  also  cooperated  in  the  conduct  of  the  "Milk  Show"  in 
1911. 

The  bureau  made  surveys  of  the  contagious  disease  hos- 
pital and  the  Philadelphia  General  Hospital,  bringing  about 
a  modernization  of  business  procedure  such  as  introduction 
of  stores  control,  standardization  of  specifications  for  sup- 
plies, etc. 

In  1914,  the  bureau,  in  cooperation  with  the  Henry  Phipps 
Institution  and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  made  a  joint 
survey  of  the  conditions  under  which  foodstuffs  were  sold 
in  Philadelphia.  The  bureau's  part  of  the  survey  included 
the  city's  inspection  service  and  general  control  over  the 
handling  of  foods.  Attention  was  called  to  many  defects  due 
chiefly  to  inadequate  appropriations. 

Studies  were  also  made  by  the  bureau  in  the  Division  of 
Vital  Statistics  and  in  the  fields  of  housing  and  sanitation, 
tenement  house  inspection  and  child  hygiene. 

The  municipal  civil  service  obtained  considerable  of  the 
bureau's  attention.  In  November,  1914,  a  program  of  sal- 
ary standardization  was  begun  and  much  progress  has  been 
made,  the  Civil  Service  Commission  enthusiastically  coop- 
erating. A  large  amount  of  preliminary  work  has  been  done 
and  a  compilation  of  comparative  salary  data  has  been  printed. 

217 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  bureau  has  entered  upon  several  lines  of  work  in  the 
Department  of  Public  Safety.  It  prepared  a  new  patrolmen's 
manual,  the  first  to  be  published  in  seventeen  years,  a  copy  of 
which  was  given  to  every  member  of  the  police  force,  and 
it  organized  a  school  of  instruction  in  the  City  Bureau  of 
Police.  Constructive  suggestions  were  made  in  matters  of 
procedure  in  the  police  bureau,  resulting  in  the  printing  of 
general  orders  instead  of  giving  oral  instructions,  the  intro- 
duction of  efficiency  records  as  a  basis  for  promotion  and 
discipline,  and  the  establishment  of  more  effective  control 
over  police  property. 

The  bureau  brought  about  the  establishment  of  a  school 
of  instruction  in  the  Bureau  of  Fires.  Officers  of  the  bureau 
were  members  of  a  commission  on  fire  prevention,  appointed 
by  the  mayor,  which  worked  out  a  systematic  and  effective 
program  of  fire  prevention  work.  In  cooperation  with  the 
chief  of  the  electrical  bureau,  a  thorough  reorganization  of 
the  administration,  personnel  and  accounting  methods  of  that 
service  was  effected. 

In  the  Public  Works  Department,  the  bureau  did  effective 
work  in  bringing  about  the  establishment  of  modern  systems 
for  handling  and  filing  correspondence  and  reorganizing  the 
inspection  service  of  the  highway  bureau;  reorganizing  the 
janitor  service,  resulting  in  an  annual  saving  of  $30,000  with 
better  service ;  assisting  in  the  solution  of  administrative  prob- 
lems in  the  director's  office;  studying  the  conditions  attend- 
ing the  lease  of  the  citizens'  gas  works  to  a  private  company ; 
and  preparing  a  digest  of  the  laws  governing  the  Public  Works 
Department. 

With  the  assistance  of  the  bureau  the  director  of  the  De- 
partment of  Supplies  was  enabled  to  bring  about  a  much 
greater  centralization  of  purchasing.  The  bureau  formulated 
standard  specifications  for  a  large  part  of  the  supplies  bought 
by  the  city  which  were  adopted  by  the  department. 

At  the  invitation  of  the  presiding  judge  of  the  Municipal 
Court,  the  bureau  made  a  study  of  the  organization,  methods 
and  procedure  of  the  domestic  relations  division  of  that  court. 
As  a  result,  it  devised  a  new  system  for  keeping  case  records 
and  installed  a  complete  system  of  mechanical  tabulation  of 

218 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

the  social  and  other  data  pertaining  to  domestic  relations 
cases. 

The  bureau  cooperated  in  the  preparation  of  a  draft  of 
a  new  charter  for  the  city,  providing  for  home  rule  powers, 
especially  with  respect  to  finance.  The  director  of  the  bu- 
reau acted  as  secretary  of  a  committee  appointed  for  that 
purpose. 

Other  activities  of  the  bureau  include  an  inquiry  into  the 
use  of  mandamuses  in  Philadelphia,  an  investigation  of  city 
control  of  billboards,  a  study  of  fire  insurance  on  city  prop- 
erty, a  study  of  licenses  and  new  sources  of  revenue  in  co- 
operation with  the  Mayor's  Advisory  Committee  on  Finance, 
a  survey  of  the  heating  and  ventilation  of  school  buildings,  a 
brief  survey  of  the  sheriff's  office,  an  examination  of  the  com- 
mittee system  of  the  city  councils,  etc. 

The  bureau's  publicity  work  consists  mainly  of  the  pub- 
lication of  a  weekly  bulletin  entitled  Citizens'  Business,  usually 
a  folder,  in  each  copy  of  which,  as  a  rule,  but  one  topic  is 
discussed.  Reports  of  studies  and  surveys  have  also  been 
printed  in  book  and  pamphlet  form. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Citizens'  business,  No.  2-299. 

A  few  numbers  are  in  pamphlet  form,  octavo  size. 
Budget  estimates,   1912,  city  of  Philadelphia.     Philadelphia,  Bureau 

of  municipal  research,  1911.     30,  162  p. 

A  digest  of  the  statutes  and  ordinances  relating  to  public  health  gov- 
erning the  Department  of  public  health  and  charities ;  with  index 
and  organization  charts.  Philadelphia,  Dept.  of  public  health 
and  charities,  1911.  10,  246  p.  18  plates. 

Editorial  response  to  disclosure  of  a  public  emergency.     Comment 
of  Philadelphia  newspapers  on  the  weights  and  measures  situ- 
ation in  Philadelphia.    As  shown  by  the  report  of  the  Bureau  of 
municipal  research.    One  week:  March  6th  to  I3th,  1911.     [Phil- 
adelphia, Bureau  of  municipal  research,  1911]     cover-title,  15  p. 
Report   No.   I — Philadelphia,   1911 — 
Contents. 

No.  I.  The  weights  and  measures  situation  in  Philadelphia;  a 
report  setting  forth  the  results  of  the  lack  of  a  sys- 
tem of  official  inspection  and  regulation,  together  with 
a  digest  of  existing  laws  and  ordinances  on  the  sub- 
ject and  a  suggested  legislative  program.  Submitted 
to  the  mayor  March  3,  1911.  1911.  153  p.  incl. 
tables,  plates,  facsim.,  diagrs. 

Specifications   for   supplies,   "Groceries,   canned   goods,    fresh    fruits 

219 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

and  vegetables   and   flour."     Schedules   printed   by   Department 
of  supplies,  1912. 

Organization  and  administrative  methods  of  the  Board  of  revision 
of  taxes  of  Philadelphia  county.  A  descriptive  statement  .  .  . 
[Philadelphia,  Board  of  revision  of  taxes,  1913.]  63  p. 

Patrolman's  manual.  Printed  under  supervision  and  at  expense  of 
the  Philadelphia  Bureau  of  police.  1913.  220  p. 

Food  inspection  service  in  Philadelphia.  April  14,  1915.  (In  Henry 
Phipps  institute  .  .  .  Twelfth  report  .  .  .  Philadelphia,  1916.  p. 
57-94-) 

Comparative  salary  data,  obtained  from  the  payrolls  of  fourteen 
cities  in  the  United  States,  forty-eight  private  establishments 
in  Philadelphia  and  salary  standardizations  of  seven  American 
cities  for  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  positions  in  municipal 
service,  by  the  Bureau  of  muncipal  research  of  Philadelphia; 
staff  member  in  charge  of  this  study,  William  C.  Beyer.  [Phila- 
delphia, Bureau  of  municipal  reseach],  1916.  i  p.  1.,  76  p. 
incl.  tables. 

ARTICLES 

Burks,  J.  D.  Outlook  for  municipal  efficiency  in  Philadelphia.  Amer- 
ican academy  of  political  and  social  science.  Annals,  May,  1912. 
v.  41 :  245-61. 

Cooperation  of  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  with  city  offi- 
cials. 

Burnham,  George.  Philadelphia  bureau  of  municipal  research.  Na- 
tional municipal  review,  July,  1916.  v.  5 :  465-9. 

Gruenberg,  Frederick  P.  The  Bureau  in  Philadelphia.  The  first 
municipal  research  venture  outside  New  York.  (In  Municipal 
research,  New  York,  Sept.,  1916,  No.  77,  p.  8-27.) 

Cincinnati,  Ohio :  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  The  Cin- 
cinnati Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  was  established  in 
1909.  The  organization  is  a  committee  of  citizens  brought 
together  as  an  unofficial  agency  of  the  people.  It  is  sustained 
by  voluntary  contributions.  The  governing  body  is  a  board 
of  six  trustees,  and  the  chief  executive  officer  the  director. 
The  purpose  of  the  bureau,  as  stated  in  its  reports,  is : 

To  conduct  a  non-partisan  study  of  the  methods  of  work 
of  the  city  and  county  governments  with  a  view  to  recom- 
mending such  modifications  and  improvements  as  it  believes 
will  promote  the  efficiency  and  economy  of  municipal  admin- 
istration, and  through  reports,  to  keep  the  people  informed 
as  to  the  results  of  its  findings  and  recommendations. 

The  first  work  undertaken  by  the  bureau  was  the  prepara- 
tion of  an  exhaustive  technical  report  on  street  and  commer- 
cial lighting  which  was  submitted  with  recommendations  to 

220 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

the  director  of  public  service.  The  adoption  of  a  number  of 
these  recommendations  effected  a  reduction  in  the  cost  to  the 
city. 

The  bureau  was  instrumental  in  bringing  out  facts  whereby 
two  paving  contracts  were  enjoined,  preventing  a  futile  ex- 
penditure of  about  thirty  thousand  dollars.  It  inspected  pav- 
ing contract  work  on  certain  streets  thereby  securing  a  more 
thorough  compliance  with  specifications  and  better  pavement; 
made  a  study  of  relative  costs  of  various  types  of  pavement; 
and  effected  a  complete  revision  of  the  paving  specifications 
resulting  in  free  and  open  competition  in  bidding. 

The  bureau  cooperated  with  city  officials  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  an  ordinance  regulating  the  deposit  of  city  funds. 

It  assisted  in  organizing  the  Mayor's  Bureau  of  Efficiency 
to  make  efficiency  studies  in  the  various  departments  of  the 
city  government,  but  this  bureau  was  abolished  when  the  ad- 
ministration changed. 

It  cooperated  with  city  officials  in  planning  the  partial 
reorganization  of  the  city  government  on  January  i,  1912, 
resulting  in  the  consolidation  of  a  number  of  the  departments, 
and  the  centralization  of  the  telephone  and  garage  services. 

It  devised  and  cooperated  in  the  installation  of  systems  of 
accounting  for  the  entire  city  government  and  of  adminis- 
trative methods  in  a  number  of  the  city  departments;  co- 
operated with  the  Mayor's  Efficiency  Bureau  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  uniform  expense  classification  applicable  to  all  city 
departments  and  a  report  on  the  standardization  of  salaries ; 
cooperated  with  the  city  purchasing  agent  and  auditor  in  the 
reorganization  and  standardization  of  the  purchasing  meth- 
ods of  the  city. 

With  the  cooperation  of  the  city  officials,  the  bureau  de- 
vised the  form  and  prepared  five  semi-annual  appropriation 
ordinances;  it  drafted  the  1913  budget  and  cooperated  with 
the  Mayor's  Efficiency  Bureau  in  drafting  the  budget  for 
1914,  and  with  the  assistance  of  the  mayor,  conducted  two 
municipal  budget  exhibits  in  1912  and  1913. 

The  bureau  cooperated  with  the  State  Educational  Com- 
mission of  Ohio  in  conducting  an  over-age  survey  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati schools ;  and  with  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association 

221 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

in  an  examination  of  the  Truancy  Department  of  the  Board 
of  Education,  devising  a  new  system  of  administrative  rec- 
ords which  was  installed. 

The  bureau  was  represented  at  all  the  meetings  of  the  City 
Charter  Commission  and  cooperated  with  all  of  its  commit- 
tees in  the  framing  of  a  proposed  new  charter. 

At  the  request  of  the  City  Club,  the  bureau  investigated  the 
administration  of  the  Municipal  Court  and  made  recommenda- 
tions which,  if  adopted,  would  result  in  considerable  saving 
of  expense. 

Organization  charts  have  been  prepared  showing  in  detail 
departmental  functions,  with  the  duty  and  salary  of  each  em- 
ployee both  of  the  city  and  the  county  governments. 

The  bureau  has  advocated  the  close  scrutiny  of  all  bonds 
issued  and  of  all  programs  for  public  improvements,  and  has 
collected  data  on  city  indebtedness  which  will  serve  as  evi- 
dence of  the  necessity  for  and  the  value  of  an  improvement 
on  bond  budget. 

The  bureau  publishes  biennial  reports  of  its  operations 
and  special  reports  of  the  various  studies  which  it  undertakes. 
These  are  shown  in  the  following  list : 

PUBLICATIONS 

The  Cincinnati  Bureau  of  municipal  research :  its  first  year's  work, 

1910-1911  ( ?). 

Second  annual  report,  1910-1911.     16  p. 
Report  for  the  two  years  ending  June  30,  1913.     30  p. 
Report  ...  for  the  two  years  ending  June  30,  1915.     16  p. 
Budget  report  No.   i.     The  city's  annual  budget.     March  31,   1911. 

15  P- 

Paving  reports,  Nos.  1-6. 
Contents. 

No.  i.     Wood   block   paving   contracts.     A   brief   submitted   to 

the  Board  of  control  .  .  .  Feb.  12,  1910.    22  p. 
No.  2.     Wood  block  paving:  the  Reading  Road  contract. 
No.  3.     Wood  block  paving.    Is  high-priced  oil  a  business  prop- 
osition?   June  23,  1910.    4  p. 

No.  4.     Wood  block  paving:     Is  high-priced  oil  a  commercial 
proposition?     What  manufacturers,   dealers  and  ex- 
perts say  about  the  Cincinnati  specifications. 
No.  5.     What  is  being  done  on  the  Reading  Road.    Oct.  7,  1910. 

12  p. 

Reply  of  Director  of  Public  service  to  Paving  report  No.  i  of 
Bureau  of  municipal  research.  Rejoinder  of  Bureau  of  munic- 
ipal research  to  Director  of  Public  Service,  Feb.,  1910.  7  p. 

222 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

Reply    to    Chief    engineer's    communication    to    Director    of    Public 
service  in  re  the  Bureau's  Paving  report  No.  5.    Nov.,  1910. 
14  p. 

Street  lighting  report  No.  i.     Feb.  18,  1911.     13  p. 

The  Board  of  health.     April,  1911.     15  p. 

Deposit  of  city  funds;  the  results  of  an  investigation  into  the  pro- 
tection and  rates  of  interest  for  city  funds  on  deposit.  June, 

ipll.     22  p. 

Extracts  from  report  of  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  on  the 
business  department  of  the  Cincinnati  Board  of  education.  1913. 
8  p. 

Information  for  citizens,  No.  1-2. 
Contents. 

No.  i.  Extracts  from  report  of  the  Bureau  of  municipal  re- 
search on  the  business  department  of  the  Cincinnati 
Board  of  education  .  .  .  May  2,  1913.  8  p. 
No.  2.  Suggestions  for  an  improved  system  of  budget  making 
and  a  more  systematic  control  over  school  expendi- 
tures. Extracts  from  a  report  submitted  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  funds  and  claims  of  the  Cincinnati  Board 
of  education.  May  23,  1913.  7  p. 

Over-age  in  the  Cincinnati  elementary  day  schools.  A  preliminary 
analysis  by  the  Ohio  State  school  survey  commission  and  the 
Cincinnati  Bureau  of  municipal  research.  Cincinnati,  1913.  10 
p.  tables. 

Schools  as  social  centers.     1913.     6  p. 
Bond  issues  to  be  voted  on  November  2,  1915  .  .  .  Cincinnati  [1915]. 

[9]    P- 
Report  on  the  Municipal  court  of  Cincinnati  .  .  .  [Cincinnati,  1915?] 

16  p. 

Reports  to  the  City  club  of  Cincinnati  by  its  Committee  on  public 
utilities  in  matters  relating  to  pending  valuation  of  street  rail- 
roads, gas  and  electric  systems.     1915.     6  p. 
The  House  of  refuge. 
Juvenile  court  of  Hamilton  County. 
Report    on   the    Truancy   department   of   the    Board    of    education. 

(abridged.) 

Report  on  the  traction  ordinance  submitted  to  the  trustees  of  the 
Cincinnati  Bureau  of  municipal  research  by  Mr.  Alfred  Bettman, 
special  counsel  of  the  Bureau  on  traction  matters,  Cincinnati 
[1917].  12  p. 

ARTICLES 

Miles,  R.  E.  Cincinnati  bureau  of  municipal  research.  American 
academy  of  political  and  social  science.  Annals,  May,  1912,  v. 
41 :  262-9. 

Chicago,   111.:   Bureau  of  Public   Efficiency.1     When  the 
"Merriam  Commission,"  after  about  one  and  onerhalf  years 

1  The  following  is  taken  almost  wholly  from  the  account  of  the 
bureau  given  by  its  director  in  Municipal  Research,  No.  77,  Sept., 

223 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

of  successful  activity,  was  about  to  terminate  its  labors  in 
19 1 o,1  it  was  thought  by  a  number  of  public-spirited  citizens 
that  it  would  be  beneficial  to  have  an  unofficial  body  which 
would  continue  the  same  general  lines  of  work  and  which 
would  carry  on  continuously  analytical  and  constructive  stud- 
ies of  the  organization,  activities,  and  expenditures  of  the  city 
government  and  of  the  other  local  governments,  at  the  same 
time  suggesting  plans  for  the  betterment  of  the  public  serv- 
ice. This  desire  found  expression  in  the  creation  in  1910 
of  the  organization  known  as  the  Chicago  Bureau  of  Public 
Efficiency. 

The  bureau  is  governed  by  a  board  of  trustees  appointed 
by  the  directors  of  the  City  Club  of  Chicago,  the  president  of 
which  is  ex-officio  a  trustee  of  the  bureau.  There  is,  how- 
ever, it  is  stated,  no  other  connection  between  the  two  organ- 
izations. The  bureau  started  with  pledges  to  the  amount  of 
$100,000  for  its  support.  Subsequently  new  subscriptions  at 
the  rate  of  $30,000  a  year  for  a  five-year  period  were  se- 
cured. 

At  the  outset  it  was  planned  to  carry  on  inquiries  into  the 
affairs  of  practically  all  the  different  Chicago  governments 
simultaneously.  The  territory  comprising  Chicago  has  a  mul- 
tiplicity of  governing  bodies,  most  of  which  escape  the  light 
of  publicity  that  is  directed  upon  the  city  government.  There 
are  the  county  government,  the  sanitary  district,  and  several 
independent  park  boards.  The  Board  of  Education,  the  Li- 
brary Board,  and  the  Municipal  Tuberculosis  Sanitarium  also 
have  separate  taxing  powers,  though  their  trustees  are  named 
by  the  mayor. 

The  difficulty  in  maintaining  rigid  scrutiny  over  so  many 
diverse  and  complicated  schemes  of  local  government  were 
found,  however,  to  be  almost  insurmountable,  and  it  was, 
therefore,  decided  to  restrict  the  range  of  the  bureau's  activi- 
ties- It  was  thought  that  better  results  would  be  obtained  by 
concentrating  from  time  to  time  upon  a  more  limited  number 
of  specific  problems.  In  pursuance  of  this  policy  consider- 

1916,  Citizen  Agencies  for  Research  in  Government.  The  language 
of  the  author  has  been  largely  followed  though  the  account  is  much 
condensed. 

1  See  p.  200,  supra. 

224 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

able  work  has  been  done  in  connection  with  the  affairs  of  the 
county  government.  This  accounts  in  part  for  the  fact  that 
so  many  of  the  reports  of  the  bureau  relate  to  that  subject 
and  that  more  reports  have  not  been  put  out  recently,  since 
during  the  past  two  years  considerable  work  has  been  done 
in  the  county  fee  offices,  the  results  of  which  were  presented 
orally  to  the  judges  of  the  Circuit  Court  but  were  not  em- 
bodied in  published  reports. 

Following  is  a  summary  of  some  of  the  accomplishments 
of  the  bureau  as  listed  in  a  booklet  published  in  1915: 

1.  Timely  action  on  the  part  of  the  Bureau  has  so  far 
prevented  the  payment  by  the  City  of  Chicago  of  three  quar- 
ters of  a  million  dollars  in  the  disgraceful  voting  machine 
deal.     Litigation  is  now  under  way  which,  there  is  reason 
to  believe,  will  be  successful  in  saving  this  entire  amount  for 
the  taxpayers. 

2.  The  Bureau  exposed  the  practices  in  the  County  Treas- 
urer's Office  which  have  resulted  in  the  loss  of  large  amounts 
of  interest  to  the  County.     During  the  four-year  term  of  the 
last   County  Treasurer   this   loss   amounted   to  considerably 
more  than  $500,000.     As  a  result  of  the  disclosures  made  by 
the  Bureau,  the  newly-elected  County  Treasurer  pledged  him- 
self before  election  to  account  for  every  dollar  of  interest 
earned  on  funds  handled  by  him ;  also  to  keep  books  and  rec- 
ords which  shall  be  open  to  public  inspection  and  which  shall 
show  his  deposits  of  public  moneys  with  the  banks  and  the 
interest  earnings  thereon.     Heretofore,  the  public  has  been 
denied  information  on  these  matters. 

3.  For  three  successive  years  the  Bureau  has  submitted 
to  the  Judges  of  the  Circuit  Court  data  which  have  enabled 
them  to  effect  a  large  saving  in  expense  to  the  County  by  ma- 
terially reducing  the  number  of  employes  in  the  County  fee 
offices  over  which  the  Judges  have  jurisdiction.     The  amount 
of  this  saving  has  been  estimated  at  not  less  than  $100,000 
a  year.     Acting  upon  such  data,  the  Judges  have  also  been 
able  to  induce  several  of  the  officials  whose  offices  were  af- 
fected to  adopt  changes  in  organization  and  methods  which 
have  resulted  in  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  offices.   These 
changes  in  organization  and  methods  are  important  also  be- 
cause -they  insure  permanently  the  annual  saving  in  salary 
expenditures  above  referred  to. 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

4.  The  inquiry  of  the  Bureau  into  the  organization  and 
methods  of  administration  of  the  several  park  governments 
of  Chicago  emphasized  the  need  for  consolidating  the  park 
governments  with  the  City  of  Chicago,  and  the  large  saving 
to  the  taxpayers — estimated  at  $500,000  a  year — which  could 
be  effected  by  such  consolidation. 

5.  The  way  in  which  the  Bureau  serves  a  very  useful  pur- 
pose as  a  center  of  exact  information  on  matters  affecting 
local  governing  bodies  is  well  illustrated  by  the  part  it  has 
played  in  explaining  the  effect  of  tax  rates  in  connection  with 
bills  for  proposed  park  consolidation.     There  are  very  few 
persons  in  the  community  who  understand  the  process  of  tax 
levying  in  such  a  way  that  they  can  explain  the  effect  of  pro- 
posed  changes   in   rates.     The   Bureau   was   responsible    for 
calling  the  attention  of  civic  organizations  and  of  legislative 
and  council  committees  to  the  fact  that,  as  first  proposed, 
park  consolidation  bills — meant  to  be  measures  of  economy — 
in  reality  carried  tax  levy  provisions  that  would  operate  to 
bring  about  heavy  tax  increases. 

6.  When  occasion  requires,   the   Bureau   offers  informa- 
tion and  recommendations  to  the  voters  upon  propositions  re- 
lating to  expenditures  coming  before  them.     The  Bureau  first 
directed  public  attention  to  the  provisions  for  salary  "grabs" 
contained  in  the  proposed  amendments  to  the  Municipal  Court 
act  which  were  submitted  to  the  voters  and  defeated  at  the 
election   of   November,    1911.     These   amendments   proposed 
uncalled-for  increases  in  the  salaries  of  officials  of  the  Mu- 
nicipal Court  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  about  $165,000 
a  year.     Through  their  defeat,  the  City  has  already  saved  this 
amount  for  three  years,  a  total  of  $495,000.     This  illustrates 
how,  in  many  cases,  when  a  useless  expenditure  is  once  pre- 
vented, the  saving  effected   accumulates   from  year  to  year 
thereafter,  especially  when  there  is  an  organization  like  the 
Bureau  in  the  field  looking  out  for  a  recurrence  of  the  ob- 
jectionable measure  or  expenditure. 

7.  Prior  to  the  election  of  April  7,   1914,  at  which  pro- 
posed bond  issues  of  the  City  of  Chicago  and  of  the  County 
of  Cook  totaling  $8,700,000  were  submitted  to  a  referendum, 
the  Bureau  issued  a  statement  to  the  voters  advising  the  ap- 
proval  of   two  of   the  propositions,   amounting   together   to 
$820,000,  and  the  rejection  of  the  others,  amounting  to  $7,- 
880,000.     The  vote  at  the  election  accorded  precisely   with 
the  recommendations  of  the  Bureau.     The  two  propositions 

226 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

recommended  were  carried;  the  other  four  were  singled  out 
for  defeat. 

8.  In  1911  the  Bureau  criticised  certain  restrictions  con- 
tained in  the  coal  specifications  of  the  Board  of  Education 
for  1910.     As  a  result  of  this  criticism,  the  restrictive  clause 
was  taken  out,  and  in  1911  twenty-nine  bids  were  received  as 
against  six  bids  in  1910.     The  price  of  coal  at  the  mines  and 
freight  rates  were  both  higher  in   1911   than  they  were  in 
1910.     Notwithstanding  these  facts,  the  bids  were  about  75 
cents  a  ton  less  in  1911  than  they  had  been  in  1910,  and  the 
aggregate  saving  to  the  Board  of  Education  on  that  one  year's 
purchase  of  coal  was  about  $90,000. 

9.  The  publication  entitled  The  Nineteen  Local  Govern- 
ments in  Chicago  is  perhaps  the  most  broadly  educational  in 
scope  of  any  of  the  reports  of  the  Bureau.     It  shows  the  com- 
plexity of  our  local  government  due  to  the  "multiplicity  of 
overlapping  taxing  bodies  with  many  elective  officials."    Uni- 
fication of  local  governments  and  a  short  ballot  are  pointed 
out  as  the  greatest  needs  of  Chicago.     So  great  was  the  de- 
mand for  this  report  that  an  edition  of  10,000  copies  was  ex- 
hausted within  a  year  from  the  date  of  publication.     The  re- 
port has  been  extensively  used  as  a  text  book  in  the  public 
schools  of  Chicago. 

The  foregoing  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  important  mat- 
ters upon  which  the  Bureau  has  been  engaged.  Not  all  of 
the  results  obtained  can  be  measured  in  dollars  and  cents. 
The  moral  influence  which  an  organization  of  this  sort  exer- 
cises in  deterring  the  useless  expenditure  and  waste  of  public 
funds  is  very  great  and  should  not  be  overlooked.  Moreover, 
the  publicity  which  the  Bureau  investigations  have  given  to 
many  defects  in  governmental  organization  and  administration 
should  ultimately  bring  about  fundamental  changes  in  con- 
ditions which  will  result  in  enormous  savings  and  much  bet- 
ter service  to  the  public. 


The  latest  report  of  the  bureau,  issued  in  January,  1917, 
is  entitled  Unification  of  Local  Governments  in  Chicago.  It 
presents  a  plan  for  the  consolidation  into  one  municipal  en- 
tity of  all  the  governing  agencies  (including  the  county) 
within  the  territory  comprising  what  is  termed  the  metro- 
politan community  of  Chicago.  The  bureau  recommends 
that  the  governing  body  for  this  unified  government  should 

227 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

be  a  city  council  of  thirty-five  members,  one  from  each  ward, 
serving  for  four-year  terms,  subject  to  recall.  Under  the 
plan  proposed,  Chicago  would  have  a  modification  of  the  city 
manager  system,  though  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  city 
would  be  called  mayor  rather  than  city  manager.  The  mayor 
would  be  chosen  by  the  council  and  would  be  its  agent  for 
administrative  purposes.  He  would  name  the  heads  of  all 
administrative  departments,  except  the  comptroller  and  the 
city  clerk,  who  would  be  chosen  by  the  council. 

PUBLICATIONS 

No.  I.  Methods  of  preparing  and  administering  the  budget  of 
Cook  County,  Illinois.  Report  submitted  to  the  commis- 
sioners of  Cook  County,  January,  1911.  53  p. 

No.  2.  Proposed  purchase  of  voting  machines  by  the  Board  of 
election  commissioners  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  May, 
1911.  14  p. 

No.  3.  Street  pavement  laid  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  An  inquiry 
into  paving  materials,  methods  and  results.  June,  1911. 
41  p. 

No.  4.  Electrolysis  of  water  pipes  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  July, 
1911.  71  p.  incl.  plates,  plans. 

No.  5.  Administration  of  the  office  of  recorder  of  Cook  County, 
Illinois.  Report  prepared  for  the  judges  of  the  Circuit 
court,  Sept.,  1911.  63  p.  diagrs.,  fold.  plan. 

No.  6.  A  plea  for  publicity  in  the  office  of  county  treasurer.  Sub- 
mitted to  the  judges  of  the  Circuit  court  by  the  Chicago 
bureau  of  public  efficiency,  October  9,  1911.  up. 

No.  7.  Repairing  asphalt  pavement.  Work  done  for  the  city  of 
Chicago  under  contract  in  1911.  October,  1911.  20  p. 

No.  8.  The  municipal  court  acts,  two  related  propositions  upon 
which  the  voters  of  Chicago  will  be  asked  to  pass  judg- 
ment at  the  election  of  November  7.  Oct.  30,  1911.  6  p. 

No.  9.  The  water  works  system  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  Report 
of  Dabney  H.  Maury,  to  the  Chicago  commission  on 
city  expenditures.  December,  1911.  52  p.  fold,  tables. 

No.  10.  Bureau  of  streets,  Civil  service  commission  and  special  as- 
sessment accounting  system  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  Re- 
ports submitted  to  the  Chicago  Commission  on  city 
expenditures.  December,  1911.  112  p. 

No.  ii.  Administration  of  the  office  of  coroner  of  Cook  County, 
Illinois;  report  prepared  for  the  judges  of  the  Circuit 
court.  68  p.  fold,  diagr. 

No.  12.  Administration  of  the  office  of  sheriff  of  Cook  County, 
Illinois;  report  prepared  for  the  judges  of  the  Circuit 
court,  Dec.,  1911.  26  p.  fold.  tab. 

No.  13.  Administration  of  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  Circuit  court 
and  of  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  Superior  court  of  Cook 
228 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

County,  Illinois;  report  prepared  for  the  judges  of  the 
Circuit  Court.  Dec.,  1911.  50  p. 

No.  14.  The  judges  and  the  county  fee  offices;  statement  to  the 
taxpayers  of  Cook  County.  Dec.,  1911.  15  p. 

No.  15.  The  park  governments  of  Chicago;  general  summary  and 
conclusions  of  a  report  prepared  by  the  Chicago  bureau 
of  public  efficiency.  Dec.,  1911.  16  p.  fold,  plan,  fold, 
chart. 

No.  16.  The  park  governments  of  Chicago;  an  inquiry  into  their 
organization  and  methods  of  administration.  Dec.,  1911. 
182  p.  plan,  tables,  diagrs. 

No.  17.  The  office  of  clerk  of  the  Circuit  court  and  the  office  of 
clerk  of  the  Superior  court  of  Cook  County,  Illinois,  a 
supplemental  inquiry  into  their  organization  and  meth- 
ods of  administration ;  report  prepared  for  the  judges 
of  the  Circuit  court.  Nov.,  1912.  27  p.  diagrs. 

No.  18.  Administration  of  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  County  court 
of  Cook  County,  Illinois.  Report  prepared  for  the  judges 
of  the  Circuit  court.  Nov.,  1912.  43  p.  diagrs. 

No.  19.  The  office  of  sheriff  of  Cook  County,  Illinois,  a  supple- 
mental inquiry  into  its  organization  and  methods  of  ad- 
ministration;  report  prepared  for  the  judges  of  the  Cir- 
cuit court.  Nov.,  1912.  26  p.  incl.  tab. 

No.  20.  Growing  cost  of  elections  in  Chicago  and  Cook  County; 
Dec.,  1912.  16,  [3]  p.  incl.  tables. 

No.  21.  The  voting  machine  contract,  a  protest  against  its  recog- 
nition in  any  form  by  the  City  council  of  the  city  of 
Chicago.  Jan.  I,  1913.  12  p. 

No.  22.  The  office  of  county  treasurer  of  Cook  County,  Illinois. 
An  inquiry  into  the  administration  of  its  finances  with 
special  reference  to  the  question  of  interest  on  public 
funds.  Nov.,  1913.  67  p. 

No.  23.  The  nineteen  local  governments  in  Chicago,  a  multiplicity 
of  overlapping  taxing  bodies  with  many  elective  officials; 
Chicago's  greatest  needs  are  the  unification  of  its  local 
government  and  a  short  ballot.  Dec.,  1913.  28  p.,  3  1., 
[5]  p.  incl.  tables,  maps,  plan,  diagrs. 

No.  24.  The  bond  issues  to  be  voted  upon  April  7,  1914,  a  state- 
ment to  the  voters  of  Chicago  and  of  Cook  county. 
March,  1914.  13  p. 

No.  25.  A  second  plea  for  publicity  in  the  office  of  the  county  treas- 
urer. A  statement  to  the  voters  of  Cook  county.  July, 
1914.  10  p. 

No.  26.  The  nineteen  local  governments  in  Chicago,  a  multiplicity 
of  overlapping  taxing  bodies  with  many  elective  officials; 
Chicago's  greatest  needs  are  the  unification  of  its  local 
governments  and  a  short  ballot.  2d  ed.  March,  1915. 
32  p.,  2  1.,  [5]  p.  incl.  tables,  diagrs. 

No.  27.  Unification  of  local  governments  in  Chicago,  Jan.,  1917. 
98  p.  incl.  tables,  map,  diagrs. 

No.  28.  The  city  manager  plan  for  Chicago.  Draft  of  a  bill  for 
the  reorganization  of  the  municipal  government,  with 
explanatory  statement.  October,  1917.  60  p. 

229 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

No.  29.  The  county  bond  issues  to  be  voted  upon  November  6,  1917. 
Statement  to  the  voters  of  Cook  County.  Oct.  30,  1917. 
6  p. 

No.  30.  Primary  days  and  election  days  as  holidays  ...  An  in- 
stance of  governmental  absurdity  and  waste.  Nov.  5, 
1917.  ii  p. 

No.  31.  Chicago's  financial  dilemma.  Reply  of  the  Chicago  bureau 
of  public  efficiency  to  a  letter  from  the  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  finance  and  the  City  comptroller  asking 
civic  organizations  to  cooperate  in  urging  a  special  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature  to  provide  financial  relief  for  the 
city.  December,  1917.  23  p. 

No.  32.  The  water  works  system  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  Dec., 
1917.  207  p.  illus.  charts,  (part,  fold.) 

No.  33.  Universal  metering  of  Chicago's  water  supply.  The  need 
for  it.  What  it  would  accomplish.  July,  1918.  20  p. 

No.  34.  Excess  condemnation,  why  the  city  of  Chicago  should  have 
the  power,  in  making  improvements,  to  take  property  in 
excess  of  actual  requirements.  Lessons  to  be  drawn 
from  certain  unfortunate  aspects  of  the  Twelfth  Street 
and  Michigan  Avenue  widenings  projects  and  the  pro- 
posed Ogden  Avenue  extension.  Sept.,  1918.  58  p. 

ARTICLES 

The  Chicago  bureau  of  public  efficiency.     June,  1910.    13  p. 

The  Chicago  bureau  of  public  efficiency.    Some  opinions  of  its  work. 

1915.    24  p. 
The  Chicago  bureau  of  public  efficiency.    What  it  has  accomplished. 

1915.     8  p. 
The  Chicago  bureau  of  public  efficiency.     Municipal  research,  New 

York.     Sept.,  1916,  No.  77,  p.  28-36. 

Dayton,  Ohio. :  Bureau  of  Research.1  The  Dayton  Bureau 
of  Research  was  organized  in  October,  1912,  under  the  name 
of  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  which  name  was  in  1916 
changed  to  Bureau  of  Research.  The  bureau  was  discon- 
tinued in  1918  on  account  of  lack  of  funds.  The  declara- 
tion announcing  the  establishment  of  this  bureau  stated  that 
it  was  "a  non-political  civic  organization,  supported  by  vol- 
untary contributions  of  citizens,"  and  that  its  purpose  was 
"to  give  to  the  public  accurate,  complete  data  relative  to  the 
condition  of  the  city  government;  and  to  cooperate  with  city 

1  The  following  account  of  the  Dayton  bureau  is  based  almost 
wholly  on  the  account  of  that  bureau  given  by  its  director  in  Munic- 
ipal Research,  No.  77,  Sept.,  1916,  Citizen  Agencies  for  Research 
in  Government.  To  a  considerable  extent  the  language  of  the  author 
has  been  followed  though  the  account  is  much  condensed. 

230 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

officials  in  the  installation  of  the  most  modern  system  of  con- 
ducting public  business." 

During  the  first  years  of  its  existence  the  bureau  was  sup- 
ported almost  solely  by  its  founder,  Mr.  John  H.  Patterson, 
of  Dayton,  but  it  was  thought  that  better  results  could  be 
obtained  by  widening  the  managing  board  and  extending  the 
number  of  contributors.  In  May,  1916,  therefore,  a  new 
plan  by  which  a  greater  number  of  citizens  could  participate 
by  giving  both  moral  and  financial  support  to  the  movement 
was  carried  out,  and  as  a  result  contributions  were  secured 
from  about  150  contributors.  At  the  same  time  a  board 
fifteen  trustees  was  elected. 

The  first  activity  of  the  bureau  was  to  urge  upon  the  city 
the  value  of  an  itemized  budget  in  place  of  the  partial  lump 
plan  then  employed.  With  the  cooperation  of  the  mayor,  the 
board  of  control  and  other  city  officials  and  through  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  local  budget  commission  of  which  the  director 
of  the  bureau  was  a  member,  steps  were  gradually  taken 
toward  the  perfecting  of  a  scientific  budget.  In  September, 
1914,  the  budget  classifications  were  revised  and  new  forms 
were  prepared  by  the  bureau  for  the  budget  of  1915  and  this 
revised  procedure  was  adopted  and  has  since  been  followed, 
the  bureau  assisting  each  year  in  its  compilation.  The  de- 
tailed work  and  compilation  of  the  1916  budget,  as  well  as  of 
all  the  previous  budgets,  was  done  by  the  bureau.  The  clas- 
sification of  accounts,  which  was  devised  by  the  bureau,  is 
based  upon  the  nature  of  the  goods  and  services  rather  than 
the  objects  of  expenditure. 

Much  assistance  was  rendered  by  the  bureau  in  the  work 
of  cutting  down  the  estimates  for  expenditures  so  as  to  bring 
them  within  the  actual  anticipated  income.  At  the  request 
of  the  bureau  public  hearings  on  the  appropriation  ordinance 
were  held  for  the  first  time  in  1913. 

In  November,  1912,  the  bureau  began  a  campaign  for  a 
new  charter  by  sending  out  a  representative  to  study  a  num- 
ber of  commission-governed  cities.  The  bureau's  staff  mem- 
bers then  spent  nearly  half  their  time  during  the  campaign 
period  in  speaking  and  other  publicity  work,  preparing  data, 
reporting  speeches,  writing  circular  letters,  and  assisting  the 

231 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Citizens'  Committee  in  general.  After  the  election  of  the 
charter  commission,  the  bureau  suggested  an  outline  for  a 
complete  charter  and  recommended  the  appointment  of  five 
committees  to  consider  as  many  divisions  of  the  document. 
The  director  of  the  bureau  worked  on  the  drafting  of  the  pro- 
posed sections,  all  but  one  of  which  were  accepted  with  minor 
changes. 

With  the  inception  of  the  commission-manager  form  of 
government  on  January  i,  1914,  the  bureau  assisted  the  offi- 
cials in  their  duties.  After  the  charter  election,  data  were 
secured  and  prepared  in  book  form  covering  the  organiza- 
tion of  each  department  of  the  city  government.  A  tentative 
outline  for  the  new  government  was  prepared,  and  a  hand- 
book containing  the  civil  list,  a  statement  of  bond  issues  out- 
standing, digest  of  the  city  budget  and  a  summary  of  the 
charter  and  rules  of  the  commission  was  issued. 

In  November,  1912,  at  the  request  of  the  codifying  com- 
mission of  the  council,  the  bureau  collected  and  correlated 
data  relative  to  fees  for  permits,  resulting  in  an  increase  of 
approximately  $14,000  annually  in  the  income  from  such 
sources.  In  the  summer  of  1914  the  bureau  undertook  a 
study  of  new  sources  of  revenue  for  the  city  commission. 

The  bureau,  in  1912,  reorganized  the  accounting  method 
in  the  Bureau  of  Revenue  Collection  of  the  City  Water  Serv- 
ice, which,  with  more  efficient  and  economical  management 
and  added  service,  placed  the  water  service  on  a  self-sustain- 
ing basis. 

In  November,  1912,  the  bureau  made  a  comprehensive 
study  of  the  method  of  garbage  collection  and  disposal,  called 
attention  to  its  unsatisfactory  character,  and  brought  about 
an  improvement  in  this  service.  The  bureau  also  secured 
the  redistribution  of  street  lights  throughout  the  city. 

A  study  of  the  public  markets,  outlining  existing  condi- 
tions, the  character  of  vendors  and  the  revenues  received,  was 
made  by  the  bureau  at  the  request  of  the  Greater  Dayton 
Association,  resulting  in  increased  revenues  from  this  source 
and  the  establishment  of  additional  markets,  including  a  chil- 
dren's market. 

The  bureau,  in  1912  and  1913,  investigated  the  methods 

232 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

employed  in  the  division  of  streets  and  called  attention  to 
inefficiencies  and  wastes  in  street  paving,  repair  and  cleaning 
services.  Better  methods  and  economies  resulted  from  this 
study. 

In  July,  1913,  the  city  issued  $119,000  in  bonds  for  the 
complete  motorization  of  the  fire  department.  Later  the 
bureau,  through  a  survey  of  the  fire  department,  made  recom- 
mendations for  the  purchase  and  distribution  of  approxi- 
mately $69,000  worth  of  fire  apparatus,  resulting  in  the  turn- 
ing back  into  the  sinking  fund  of  $50,000  of  the  original  bond 
issue. 

A  survey  made  of  the  Division  of  Fires  and  the  Division 
of  Police  by  a  member  of  the  staff  of  the  New  York  Bureau 
of  Municipal  Research  resulted  in  the  drawing  up  and  adop- 
tion of  a  complete  set  of  records,  including  a  consolidated 
daily  report  for  each  division  to  go  to  the  desk  of  the  direc- 
tor of  the  Department  of  Safety  each  morning.  A  training 
school  for  members  of  the  police  force  was  suggested  by  the 
bureau.  A  member  of  the  bureau  staff  accompanied  17  mem- 
bers of  the  Safety  Department  on  an  educational  trip  to  New 
York  City  and  other  eastern  points,  and  arranged  with  the 
Fire  and  Police  Department  in  New  York  for  placing  these 
men  so  that  they  might  receive  valuable  practical  experience. 

Many  of  the  recommendations  contained  in  the  Safety 
Department  survey  were  put  into  effect  in  the  Division  of 
Weights  and  Measures,  records  and  forms  were  devised  and 
installed,  and  the  inspector  was  given  a  clearer  idea  of  his 
duties. 

The  bureau  financed  the  entire  cost  of  preparing  a  com- 
plete modern  city  building  code  and  outlined  the  records  for 
the  establishment  of  a  division  of  building  inspection. 

At  the  request  of  the  trustees  of  the  police  and  fire  pen- 
sion funds,  the  bureau  made  a  study  of  the  pension  funds 
with  a  view  to  the  better  protection  of  the  present  uniformed 
force. 

Early  in  1913  the  bureau  cooperated  with  the  Board  of 
Health  in  the  installation  of  a  new  system  of  filing  and  re- 
cording sanitary  reports,  the  establishment  of  a  pin-chart 
on  contagious  diseases,  a  revival  of  milk  analysis  after  a 

233 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

lapse  of  two  years,  and  the  preparation  of  a  score  card  sys- 
tem and  more  adequate  inspection  of  dairies. 

In  May,  1913,  the  bureau,  through  a  staff  member  of  the 
New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  undertook  a  com- 
plete study  of  the  administration  of  the  Board  of  Health,  re- 
sulting in  the  preparation  of  an  outline  of  constructive  sug- 
gestions for  extending  the  service  and  increasing  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  department.  The  bureau  assisted  in  installing 
the  records  recommended  and  in  reorganizing  the  depart- 
ment. Eight  bulletins  consisting  of  the  survey  report  and 
follow-ups  were  issued  on  this  subject.  Early  in  1914,  at 
the  request  of  the  chief  health  officer,  the  bureau  assisted  in 
the  installation  and  revision  of  a  complete  system  of  record 
keeping,  and  it  continued  to  keep  in  touch  with  this  service. 

In  February,  1914,  as  a  result  of  a  statement  prepared  by 
the  bureau,  setting  forth  the  needs  of  a  city  laboratory,  a 
Bureau  of  Bacteriology  and  Chemistry  was  established. 

An  examination  of  the  purchasing  activities  at  the  city 
workhouse  in  February,  1913,  was  followed  a  year  later  by 
the  installation  of  a  system  of  cost  and  accounting  records 
covering  the  maintenance  of  prisoners. 

At  the  recommendation  of  the  bureau  an  appropriation 
was  made  in  January,  1914,  for  the  establishment  of  a  City 
Bureau  of  Legal  Aid  where  free  legal  assistance  is  given  to 
those  otherwise  unable  to  obtain  it.  The  activities  of  this 
new  bureau  resulted  in  driving  loan-sharks  out  of  the  city. 

The  bureau,  cooperating  with  the  supervisor  of  recreation, 
brought  about  an  enlargement  of  the  plans  of  the  Division 
of  Recreation  and  recommended  the  establishment  of  addi- 
tional social  centers. 

Upon  the  installation  of  the  new  government,  the  bureau, 
at  the  request  of  the  Department  of  Finance,  undertook  a  com- 
plete revision  of  the  accounting  system  and  the  installation 
of  a  new  method  of  procedure,  in  which  work  the  aid  of  the 
Cincinnati  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  was  had. 

In  November,  1912,  the  bureau  undertook  to  collect  in- 
formation in  support  of  a  proposal  for  the  establishment  of 
a  centralized  city  purchasing  department.  In  September,  1913, 
blanks  and  procedure  for  the  office  of  the  purchasing  agent 

234 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

were  prepared  ready  for  installation  when  the  new  govern- 
ment was  placed  in  operation. 

Early  in  1913  a  study  was  undertaken  by  the  bureau  of 
the  requirements  of  the  sinking  fund  with  a  view  to  present- 
ing a  more  equitable  scheme  of  liquidating  the  funded  lia- 
bilities of  the  city,  and  in  January,  1914,  a  complete  statement 
of  the  city's  bonded  debt,  classified  by  actual  maturity,  in- 
terest, etc.,  was  submitted  to  the  sinking  fund  trustees,  and 
the  annual  interest  and  sinking  fund  requirements  on  all  out- 
standing bond  issues  of  the  city  were  calculated  by  the  bu- 
reau and  submitted  to  the  Finance  Department. 

The  bureau  prepared  a  series  of  charts  showing  the  inter- 
locking of  social  agencies  within  the  city  and  the  activities 
of  the  Department  of  Public  Welfare.  Later,  by  the  use  of 
a  special  fund  raised  for  the  purpose,  the  bureau  made  a  sur- 
vey of  the  nine  private  charities  of  the  Federation  for  Char- 
ity and  Philanthropy.  As  a  result  of  this  survey  many  con- 
structive recommendations  were  put  into  effect  by  these  or- 
ganizations. 

At  the  request  of  the  Civil  Service  Board,  the  bureau  pre- 
pared a  complete  list  of  city  employees,  with  titles  and  grades 
of  pay  and  considerable  work  was  done  with  the  board  in 
outlining  the  general  plan  of  activity  of  the  board  and  in 
standardizing  the  positions  and  salaries  of  the  civil  list. 

The  bureau  also  made  a  study  of  paving  and  sewer  con- 
ditions and  calculations  for  two  bond  issues  for  improving 
and  enlarging  school  activities  in  Oakwood,  Ohio,  and  a  sur- 
vey of  Jackson,  Michigan,  with  constructive  recommenda- 
tions. 

For  several  months  in  1913,  at  the  request  of  the  Gover- 
nor of  Ohio,  the  director  of  the  bureau  was  loaned  to  the 
state  to  work  on  a  program  for  the  state  budget  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  director  of  the  Legislative  Reference  Library, 
the  state  auditor  and  other  officials.  As  a  result  of  this  work 
budgeting  procedure  recommended  by  this  board  was  adopted 
by  the  legislature  and  a  budget  commission  was  appointed  by 
the  Governor. 

The  director  of  the  bureau  participated  in  securing  the 
passage  of  a  bill  providing  for  a  state  rural  school  survey. 

235 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  survey  was  directed  by  a  member  of  the  Training  School 
for  Public  Service  and  resulted  in  the  enactment  of  a  com- 
plete revision  of  the  rural  school  laws. 

Other  activities  of  the  bureau  have  included  the  secur- 
ing of  better  returns  from  lessees  of  public  property,  services 
rendered  in  flood  relief  work,  studying  the  matter  of  grade 
crossings,  securing  information  for  the  location  of  a  bi-county 
tuberculosis  sanitarium,  etc. 

The  bureau  has  issued  a  number  of  folders  and  booklets, 
and  has  prepared  matter  for  magazines  and  the  daily  press, 
dealing  with  subjects  of  municipal  health,  such  as  public 
safety,  public  welfare,  finance,  taxation,  accounting,  schools, 
and  other  public  problems.  A  list  of  the  more  important  pub- 
lications follows. 


PUBLICATIONS 

Appropriation  ordinances;  first   [and  second]  half  year  of  1913.     2 

pts. 

The  budget  of  the  city  of  Dayton,  1914.  42  p. 
The  budget  of  the  city  of  Dayton,  1915.  52  p. 
The  budget  of  the  city  of  Dayton,  1916.  60  p. 

Organization  and  administration  of  the  Department  of  health  of 
Dayton,  Ohio.  Report  prepared  for  the  Department  of  health. 
[1913]  97  p.  incl.  tables,  diagrs. 

"A  report  of  the  activities  of  the  Board  of  health  for  1912  .  .  . 
The  investigation  was  made  ...  by  Dr.  Carl  E.  McCombs  of 
the  Training  school  for  public  service  of  the  New  York  Bureau 
of  municipal  research." 

A  plan  to  place  the  water  works  upon  a  self-sustaining  basis  and 
to  complete  the  proposed  additional  water  supply  and  betterment 
of  the  distribution  mains  for  Dayton  by  providing  that  the  water 
department  pay  from  income  all  interest  and  principal  of  the 
water  debt  now  outstanding  and  hereafter  created,  thus  exclud- 
ing all  water  issues  from  limitations  of  the  bonded  debt.  1913? 
28  p. 
Shall  we  change  our  city  government?  A  statement  of  three  types 

of  municipal  administration  .  .  .   [1913?]     16  p. 
Survey  of  over-age  and  progress  in  the  Dayton  schools.    1913?    46  p. 
Budget  classification.     1914?    16  p. 
A  charter  primer.     1914?    24  p. 

Over-age  and  progress  in  the  public  schools  of  Dayton,  1913-1914. 
1914.  20  p. 

"A  second  study  of  'Over-age  and  progress'  [supplementing  the 
report  for  1912-1913]  .  .  .  tabulation  of  material,  and  the 
writing  of  the  entire  report  was  done  by  Mr.  Arch  M.  Mandel, 
assisted  by  Miss  A.  Irene  Dilks  and  Mrs.  Paul  Illman  of  the 
Bureau  staff." 

236 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

Shade  trees  in  Dayton,  results  of  a  brief  investigation  of  Dayton's 

trees  .  .  .  1914.     [4]  P- 
Water  improvement  plans  .  .  .  1914.    8  p. 
One  year  of  city  management  in  Dayton.     1915?     12  p. 
Some  facts  about  the  tax  rate,  by  C.  E.  Rightor.    Sept.,  1915.    [12]  p. 
Some  types  of  city  government.     1915?     12  p. 
Why  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  should  be  continued  in  Dayton 

.  .  .  March,  1916.     8  p. 

Reports  on  Dayton's  school  administration.    No.  I — April,  1917 — 
Contents. 

No.  i.     Building  new  schools  for  Dayton's  children.    April,  1917. 

[19  P-] 

Research  progress  facts;  a  year  of  governmental  research  with  cer- 
tain facts  about  our  city,  county  and  schools,  and  their  progress 
during  1916-1917.  1917.  39  p. 

Miscellaneous  Folders 

The  city  manager  and  the  baby.     (Bolder) 

A  complaint  suggestion  bureau,    (folder) 

Diphtheria  epidemic  versus  diphtheria  prevention,     (folder) 

Government  by  deficit,  No.  1-3.     folders. 

Health  bulletins.  8   folders. 

Infant  death  rate,     (folder) 

Motor-driven  fire  apparatus  bids,     (folder) 

The  municipal  exhibit.     1915.     (folder) 

Organization  of  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research,     (folder) 

Some  acid  tests  of  city  manager  government,     (folder) 

Swat  the  fly.     (folder) 

Reprints 

Annual  report  of  the  City  commission  for  1915.    36  p. 
Budget  making  for  small  cities,  by  Lent  D.  Upson  [director  of  the 
Dayton  bureau  of  research].     1915.     14  p. 

Reprinted  from  The  Annals  of  the  American  academy  of  politi- 
cal and  social  science,  November,  1915. 

Budgetary  procedure  under  the  manager  form  of  city  government, 
by  Arch  M.  Mandel.  13  p. 

Reprinted  from  The  Annals  of  the  American  academy  of  politi- 
cal and  social  science,  November,  1915. 
The  city  manager  and  social  justice,  by  Dr.  D.  F.  Garland.   1916.  5  p. 

Reprinted  from  the  Rotarian,  v.  8,  No.  4,  April,  1916. 
The  city  manager  at  work,  by  Lent  D.  Upson.     1916.    4  p. 
Reprinted  from  the  Rotarian,  v.  8,  No.  2,  Feb.,  1916. 
The  city-manager  plan  of  government  for  Dayton,  by  L.  D.  Upson, 
director,  bureau  of  municipal  research.    Reprinted  by  permission 
from  the  National  municipal  review,  October,  1913.     [8]  p. 
Reprinted  in  response  to  requests   for  a  digest  of  the  Dayton 

charter. 
Comment  on  the  Dayton  charter,  by  Lent  D.  Upson.     10  p. 

Reprinted  from  National  municipal  review,  v.  4,  No.  2,  April,, 
19*5- 

237 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  law  and  public  welfare,  by  Dr.  D.  Frank  Garland.     7  p. 
Reprint  of  the  city  charter.    32  p. 
Reprint  of  the  Dayton  charter.    64  p. 


ARTICLES 

Cooperation  between  city  officials  and  private  efficiency  organizations. 
Modern  city,  Sept.,  1917.    v.  2:26-7. 
Describes  the  work  of  the  Dayton  bureau  of  research. 
The  Dayton  bureau  of  research.    [Prepared  for  Municipal  research 
by  Mr.  C.  E.  Rightor,  director  of  the  Dayton  bureau  of  research. 
n.  p.,  1916.    27  p. 

Reprinted   from   Citizen  agencies  for  research   in  government, 
the  issue  of  Municipal  research,  No.  77,  Sept.,  1916. 

Milwaukee,  Wis. :  Citizens*  Bureau  of  Municipal  Effi- 
ciency. In  the  chapter  on  official  municipal  government  re- 
search agencies  account  has  been  given  of  the  establishment, 
in  1910,  by  the  city  government  of  Milwaukee,  of  a  Bureau 
of  Economy  and  Efficiency  and  the  reorganization  of  this 
bureau  in  1912  under  the  name  of  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search. 

Considerable  delay  occurred  in  the  organization  of  this 
second  service  and  in  the  appointment  of  its  director.  Un- 
willing to  wait  longer  for  action  by  the  city  authorities,  and 
believing  that  there  was  need  for  an  independent  research 
agency,  certain  citizens  of  the  city  called  in  the  assistance  of 
the  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  first,  to  make 
a  preliminary  survey  of  the  various  departments  of  the  city 
and  then  to  aid  in  the  creating  of  a  purely  private  research 
agency.  Funds  for  a  number  of  years  were  secured  or 
pledged,  and  on  May  27,  1913,  there  was  incorporated  the 
Citizens'  Bureau  of  Municipal  Efficiency. 

The  purposes  of  this  bureau  as  set  forth  in  a  bulletin 
issued  by  it  were: 

To  promote  efficient,  economical  municipal  government; 
to  promote  the  adoption  of  scientific  methods  of  managing 
and  supervising  municipal  affairs  and  accounting  and  report 
on  details  of  municipal  business,  with  a  view  to  facilitate  the 
work  of  public  officials ;  to  secure  constructive  publicity  in 
matters  pertaining  to  municipal  problems ;  to  collect,  classify, 
analyze,  correlate,  interpret,  and  publish  facts  as  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  municipal  government,  and  generally  to  do 

238 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

all  and  everything  lawful  and  proper  which  may  be  neces- 
sary or  expedient  for  the  accomplishment  of  these  purposes. 

Since  its  organization,  the  bureau,  working  on  a  coopera- 
tive basis  with  the  city  departments,  has  furnished  assistance 
to  the  city  comptroller,  the  Commission  of  Public  Works,  the 
Bureau  of  Bridges  and  Buildings,  the  Bureau  of  Sewers,  the 
Bureau  of  Purchases  and  Stores,  the  Bureau  of  Street  Sani- 
tation, the  Bureau  of  Illumination  Service  and  the  Fire  De- 
partment, and  it  has  aided  in  installing  a  system  of  pay-roll 
control  for  the  city  service  and  in  the  revision  of  the  rules 
and  methods  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 

It  has  made  surveys  of  the  Department  of  Public  Works, 
the  purchasing  methods  of  the  entire  city  government,  the 
Fire  Department,  and  the  asphalt  situation;  preliminary  sur- 
veys of  school  buildings  and  building  sites  and  the  street 
lighting  question;  and  a  preliminary  report  on  city  finance. 

It  has  advised  with  various  department  heads  and  offi- 
cials relative  to  the  perfecting  of  budget-making  methods,  the 
control  of  the  common  council  contingent  fund,  the  control 
of  the  transfer  of  budget  appropriations,  the  perfecting  of 
methods  of  levying  and  billing  taxes  and  special  assessments, 
and  the  improvement  of  office  procedure  and  methods.  It  has 
publicly  advocated  measures  which,  in  its  opinion,  would  be 
beneficial  for  the  city,  such  as  the  ward  reorganization  pro- 
posed by  the  City  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research. 

Through  the  installation  of  improved  accounting  systems 
and  the  perfection  of  office  methods  and  procedure  by  the 
comptroller,  with  the  assistance  of  the  bureau,  overdrafts  of 
funds  have  been  eliminated  and  daily  appropriation  balances 
made  available,  and  the  comptroller's  office  has  been  placed 
upon  a  more  efficient  basis. 

A  member  of  the  staff  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Munici- 
pal Research  designed  a  uniform  cost  system  for  the  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Works  which  has  been  installed  in  the  Bu- 
reau of  Bridges  and  Buildings  and  the  Bureau  of  Sewers  of 
this  department.  As  a  result  these  bureaus  are  in  a  position 
to  keep  close  control  over  their  service  costs  and  the  cost  of 
materials  and  supplies.  This  system  is  now  being  installed 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

by  the  Citizens'  Bureau  in  other  bureaus  of  the  Department 
of  Public  Works. 

In  order  to  effect  a  more  efficient  system  of  city  purchas- 
ing, a  plan  of  organization  and  procedure  was  adopted 
whereby  a  central  purchasing  committee  was  formed,  con- 
sisting of  the  mayor,  commissioner  of  public  works,  secretary 
of  the  school  board,  public  librarian,  director  of  the  museum 
and  secretary  of  the  park  board;  and  a  member  of  the  staff 
of  the  Citizens'  Bureau  was  appointed  executive  secretary  of 
the  committee.  This  central  purchasing  committee  is  not  a 
legally  constituted  body,  and  the  bureau  is  endeavoring  to 
secure  the  passage  of  a  proposed  purchasing  law  legalizing 
centralized  purchasing.  It  is  estimated  that  a  minimum  an- 
nual saving  of  $200,000  could  be  effected  by  this  plan. 

A  survey  of  the  Fire  Department's  methods  resulted  in 
the  city's  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  being  requested  to 
make  a  study  and  report  upon  the  motorization  of  the  de- 
partment and  the  organization  of  a  central  repair  shop  for 
all  city  departments. 

As  a  result  of  a  survey  of  the  asphalt  pavement  situation 
a  training  school  for  pavement  inspectors  was  organized  and 
much  helpful  information  was  collected  for  the  Bureau  of 
Street  Construction. 

A  survey  of  Milwaukee's  school  buildings  made  by  the 
Citizens'  Bureau  at  the  request  of  the  school  board,  resulted 
in  the  outlining  of  a  definite  building  program. 

In  order  to  throw  light  upon  the  street  lighting  situation, 
the  bureau  prepared  a  resume  and  compilation  of  all  avail- 
able data  relating  to  that  subject. 

The  bureau  was  requested  to  direct  the  work  of  a  citizen 
committee  appointed  by  the  mayor  to  study  the  problem  of 
framing  a  financial  program  for  Milwaukee.  An  expert  was 
employed  to  make  a  preliminary  study,  and  the  report  was 
submitted  to  the  mayor  and  members  of  the  committee.  An- 
other report  was  prepared  by  the  bureau  and  submitted  to 
the  Wisconsin  League  of  Municipalities.  Bills  embodying 
some  of  these  recommendations  have  been  introduced  in  the 
legislature. 

The  bureau  has  been  endeavoring  for  several  years  to  se- 

240 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

cure  the  adoption  of  a  plan  of  standardization  of  public 
employment  and  engaged  an  expert  who  prepared  a  report 
giving  a  review  of  the  movement  for  standardization  of  pub- 
lic employment  and  an  appraisal  of  the  proposed  salary  stand- 
ardization plan  for  the  Milwaukee  city  service.  This  re- 
sulted in  the  rejection  of  the  faulty  plan  proposed  to  the  coun- 
cil and  in  the  adoption  of  a  policy-determining  ordinance 
setting  forth  the  principles  of  standardization,  and  in  the 
City  Service  Commission  being  requested  to  submit  a  report 
upon  the  classification  and  standardization  of  the  present 
service.  The  commission  has  engaged  a  specialist  to  do  this 
work.  An  early  report  is  expected. 

The  bureau  has  had  very  few  of  its  reports  printed,  most 
of  the  reports  being  submitted  in  memorandum  form.  A 
folder  entitled  Cooperative  Citizenship  is  issued  at  irregular 
intervals.  Following  is  a  list  of  the  publications  and  other 
reports  issued  by  the  bureau. 

PUBLICATIONS 

A  report  to  the  public.  March,  1915.  19  p. 
Concerning  the  Fire  department.  1915.  18  p. 
Helping  Milwaukee.  1915.  12  p. 

Review  of  movement  for  standardization  of  public  employments  and 
appraisal  of  the  proposed  salary  standardization  plan  .  .  .  Re- 
port made  .  .  .  by  J.  L.  Jacobs  .  .  .  Milwaukee,  1916.  45  p. 
The  street  lighting  question,  a  summary.  Citizens'  bureau  of  munici- 
pal efficiency,  Milwaukee,  March,  1916.  [Milwaukee,  1916.]  2 
p.  1.,  14  p. 

Cooperative  citizenship.     Bulletin,  No.  I — Nov.  15,  1916 — 
Contents. 

No.  i.     Standardization  of  public  employment.     Nov.   15,   1916. 

2  p. 
No.  2.     Central    purchasing    No.      i.      The    central    purchasing 

committee.     Feb.  i,  1917.     folder. 

No.  3.  Central  purchasing  No.  2.  The  purchase  of  coal  by 
the  Central  purchasing  committee.  Feb.  12,  1917. 
folder. 

No.  5.  What  the  Milwaukee  Citizens'  bureau  of  municipal  effi- 
ciency is  doing  for  the  city  and  some  of  its  plans  for 
future  work.  Sept.,  1917.  [7]  p. 

No.  6.  What  city  officials  think  of  the  work  of  the  Milwaukee 
Citizens'  bureau  of  municipal  efficiency.  Oct.,  1917. 
10  p. 

No.  7.     What   Milwaukee   has   done   and   what   it   needs   to   do 
adequately   to    control    its    expenditure    of   $2,500,000 
for  salaries.     Dec.,  1917.     14  p. 
241 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

No.  8.  A  discussion  of  the  referendums  relating  to  the  re-organ- 
ization of  the  Common  council.  Feb.,  1918.  7  p. 

No.  9.  The  work  of  the  Citizens'  bureau  and  its  plans  for  fu- 
ture work.  March,  1918.  12  p. 

ARTICLES 

The  Milwaukee  citizens'  bureau  of  municipal  efficiency.     Prepared 

for  Municipal  research,  by  Mr.  John  F.  Putnam,  director  .  .  . 

n.  p.,  1916.    9  p. 

Reprinted   from   Citizen  agencies  for  research  in  government, 

the  issue  of  Municipal  research,  No.  77.     Sept.,  1916. 
Milwaukee  bureau   of  economy   and   efficiency,   by   J.    E.   Treleven. 

American  academy  of  political  and  social  science,  Annals,  May, 

1912.    v.  41 :  270-8. 

Minneapolis,  Minn. :  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  of  the 
Minneapolis  Civic  and  Commerce  Association.1  In  1913,  a 
proposition  for  a  home  rule  charter  of  the  commission  type 
had  been  voted  down  by  the  people  of  Minneapolis,  where- 
upon the  Minneapolis  Civic  and  Commerce  Association  de- 
cided that  the  wisest  policy  would  be  to  develop  the  best  pos- 
sible administration  under  the  existing  charter.  Accordingly, 
a  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  was  organized  in  December, 
1913,  by  a  committee  of  the  association  and  an  experienced 
expert  accountant  placed  in  charge. 

The  functions  of  the  bureau  are  set  forth  in  the  follow- 
ing statement  issued  at  the  time  of  its  organization: 

The  purpose  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  of  the 
Minneapolis  Civic  and  Commerce  Association  shall  be  to  pro- 
mote efficient  and  economical  government  in  the  City  of  Min- 
neapolis and  in  the  County  of  Hennepin. 

To  this  end  the  Bureau  shall  endeavor,  through  coopera- 
tion with  public  officials,  to  secure  the  adoption  of  scientific 
methods  of  accounting  and  administration  and  to  collect,  clas- 
sify, analyze,  correlate  and  interpret  data  with  reference  to 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs. 

In  cooperation  with  and  in  behalf  of  the  public,  the  Bureau 
shall  attempt  to  secure  constructive  publicity  in  matters  per- 

1  The  following  account  of  the  Minneapolis  bureau  is  based  almost 
wholly  on  the  account  of  that  bureau  given  by  its  director  in  Munici- 
pal Research,  No.  77,  Sept.,  1916.  Citizen  Agencies  for  Research  in 
Government.  To  a  considerable  extent  the  language  of  the  author 
has  been  followed  though  the  account  is  much  condensed. 

242 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

taining  to  municipal  problems  and  so  to  interpret  the  facts 
as  to  secure  an  increased  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  public 
in  the  activities  of  its  officials  and  a  more  intelligent  support 
for  legitimate  municipal  projects  and  administration. 

To  act  as  a  clearing  house  and  point  of  contact  between 
the  citizens  of  Minneapolis  and  their  public  servants  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  a  better  understanding  and  cooperation 
between  them. 


The  first  work  undertaken  by  the  bureau  after  its  organ- 
ization was  an  examination  of  the  newly-organized  civil  serv- 
ice office  of  the  Minneapolis  city  administration.  By  giving 
service  and  advice  to  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  it  enabled 
that  body  to  complete  its  records  of  the  city  employees,  to 
secure  uniformity  in  returns  from  the  departments  and  to 
effect  other  economies. 

The  bureau  has  made  surveys  of  the  City  Health  De- 
partment, garbage  and  ash  collection  and  disposal,  the  city 
hospitals,  the  business  administration  of  the  public  schools, 
the  comptroller's  office,  business  procedure  of  the  Institute  of 
Arts,  the  Park  Board  and  the  Police  Department.  Special 
assistance  has  been  given  to  the  city  purchasing  agent,  the 
Water  Department,  the  Board  of  Tax  Levy,  the  city  assessor, 
the  Fire  Department,  the  administration  of  municipal  baths, 
and  to  various  committees  of  the  city  council  and  to  the  state 
legislature.  A  community  survey  was  made  of  one  city  ward 
for  the  benefit  of  the  social  agencies  at  work  there  and  the 
administration  of  one  settlement  house  in  the  ward  was  stud- 
ied. 

At  the  request  of  the  University  of  Minnesota  a  survey 
was  made  of  the  business  administration  of  the  medical  school, 
and  on  its  completion  the  bureau  was  asked  to  detail  a  mem- 
ber of  its  staff  for  a  four  months'  study  of  the  general  busi- 
ness administration  of  the  university. 

Following  are  some  of  the  more  important  constructive  re- 
sults of  the  bureau's  work : 

The  bureau  prepared  a  uniform  expense  classification 
which,  for  two  years,  has  been  used  by  the  city  departments 
in  presenting  their  budget  estimates,  and  it  has  given  assist- 
ance to  several  of  the  departments  in  their  work  of  analyzing 

243 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

their  expenditures  and  preparing  their  estimates.  This  clas- 
sification is  to  be  used  in  the  accounting  systems  of  all  the 
city  departments  as  soon  as  they  can  be  reorganized. 

The  bureau  has  assisted  the  comptroller  in  the  installa- 
tion of  a  new  system  of  appropriation  control  which  keeps 
the  heads  of  departments  informed  of  disbursements  and 
encumbrances  under  their  appropriations.  This  system  en- 
abled the  departments  operating  under  the  current  expense 
fund  to  decrease  the  over-expenditures  at  the  close  of  the  year 
from  $35,578  in  1914  to  $14,422  in  1915. 

The  entire  accounting  system  and  business  procedure  of 
the  comptroller's  office  has  been  modernized  in  so  far  as 
changes  could  be  made  without  legislative  enactment,  and  the 
process  of  reorganization  has  so  awakened  the  interest  of 
the  employees  of  this  department  that  they  organized  a  class 
to  study  under  the  instruction  of  a  member  of  the  bureau 
staff  the  problems  of  modern  municipal  accounting. 

In  1915,  a  legislative  act  was  approved  providing  for  the 
complete  centralization  of  the  purchasing  for  the  city  gov- 
ernment. In  the  drafting  of  an  ordinance  prescribing  the  pro- 
cedure under  which  the  city  purchasing  agent  should  handle 
the  purchasing  for  all  the  city  boards  and  departments,  a  com- 
mittee of  city  officials  was  appointed  of  which  the  director 
of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  was  a  member. 

In  March,  1915,  the  bureau  was  asked  by  the  special  coun- 
cil committee  on  finance  to  investigate  a  charge  made  by  the 
newspapers,  that  the  city  clerk  was  unlawfully  retaining  fees 
taken  in  by  his  office.  The  bureau  found  that  no  records 
were  kept  of  fees  charged  for  acknowledgments,  drawing 
papers,  satisfactions,  etc.,  fees  which  the  city  ordinances  did 
not  specially  state  should  be  turned  in  to  the  city  treasury, 
The  council  immediately  passed  an  ordinance  requiring  that 
all  fees  taken  in  by  any  city  employee  be  turned  over  to  the 
citv  treasurer. 

In  1914,  the  bureau  made  a  survey  of  the  Health  Depart- 
ment, and  it  was  found  that  68  per  cent,  of  the  so-called 
health  appropriation  was  being  spent  for  garbage  and  ash 
collection  and  disposal.  On  recommendation  of  the  bureau, 
the  city  council  transferred  the  administrative  supervision  of 

244 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

this  function  from  the  commissioner  of  health  to  the  city  en- 
gineer. 

Numerous  other  changes  in  administrative  methods  for 
the  reorganization  of  the  complaint  system  and  of  the  sys- 
tem of  accounting,  etc.,  were  made  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
bureau. 

At  the  request  of  the  city  hospital,  the  bureau  assisted  in 
preparing  a  system  of  daily  and  monthly  reports  from  the 
heads  of  divisions  to  keep  the  head  of  the  hospital  currently 
informed  of  the  work  done  and  the  occurrences  which  re- 
quired his  attention.  The  bureau  cooperated  with  the  hos- 
pital in  the  installation  of  a  disease  index  and  a  new  disease 
nomenclature.  It  also  assisted  in  effecting  economies  in  the 
hospital. 

As  a  result  of  the  bureau's  report  on  the  business  admin- 
istration of  the  Minneapolis  public  schools,  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation consolidated  its  two  business  divisions,  placing  the  au- 
ditor under  the  business  superintendent.  A  system  of  job 
costs  was  installed  to  show  the  complete  cost  of  each  piece  of 
work  performed,  also  a  system  of  stores  accounting  which  in- 
creased the  storehouse  facilities  and  enabled  the  business  su- 
perintendent to  inspect  more  carefully  goods  received  and 
to  maintain  a  closer  control  over  goods  issued.  The  purchas- 
ing system  was  revised  and  a  new  accounting  system  con- 
forming to  the  uniform  accounts  in  the  comptroller's  office 
was  installed.  The  bureau's  assistance  was  used  both  in  plan- 
ning the  reorganization  and  in  putting  the  plans  into  effect. 
The  surveying  of  the  business  administration  of  the  Uni- 
versity Medical  School  resulted  in  the  transfer  of  the  depart- 
mental stores  to  the  central  university  storehouse  and  in  re- 
ducing the  size  of  the  machine  shop  force. 

The  Board  of  Park  Commissioners  accepted  the  recom- 
mendations as  to  its  business  procedure  contained  in  the  sur- 
vey report  of  the  bureau  and  asked  that  a  member  of  the  bu- 
reau staff  take  charge  of  the  office  during  the  process  of  re- 
organization. As  a  result,  a  complete  new  accounting  sys- 
tem, a  stores  system  and  a  central  filing  system  were  installed 
and  other  changes  of  administration  were  made. 

A  ward  survey,  the  first  of  a  series  of  sectional  studies, 

245 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

was  made  for  the  purpose  of  determining  what  sort  of  con- 
ditions, socially  and  governmentally,  the  city  of  Minneapolis 
provides  for  its  citizens.  This  survey  included  a  study  of  the 
park,  school  and  library  facilities,  a  provision  of  sewer  and 
water,  fire  and  police  protection,  housing  conditions,  the  work 
of  social  agencies,  and  suggestions  for  needed  changes  were 
given  to  those  concerned. 

A  police  survey  was  begun  in  the  fall  of  1915,  resulting 
in  the  reorganization  of  a  number  of  departments,  changes 
in  methods,  and  a  revision  of  the  entire  system  of  police  rec- 
ords. 

In  1916,  the  bureau  engaged  upon  a  comparative  study  of 
the  cost  of  building  inspection  at  the  request  of  the  building 
inspector;  it  assisted  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Public 
Health  Service  in  a  survey  which  he  made  of  the  public  health 
situation  in  Minneapolis ;  and  it  assisted  the  superintendent  of 
the  city  hospital  in  the  organization  of  the  city  physician  serv- 
ice. The  bureau  keeps  in  close  touch  with  departments  already 
surveyed  and  gives  them  special  service  when  called  upon. 
Several  requests  for  surveys  have  also  been  received  by  it  from 
social  and  charitable  agencies. 

While  the  original  purpose  of  the  bureau  included  the  same 
type  of  service  for  the  county  that  has  been  rendered  to  the 
city,  the  pressure  of  municipal  work  has,  as  yet,  prevented 
work  with  the  county  officials  except  some  assistance  ren- 
dered in  preparing  budget  estimates  for  the  County  Board 
of  Tax  Levy.  There  is  also  an  increasing  demand  that  the 
state  departments  shall  be  given  the  opportunity  to  make  use 
of  the  bureau's  facilities  for  improving  government  admin- 
istration. 

The  bureau  has  issued  but  one  printed  report  and  that  is 
a  reprint  from  Citizen  Agencies  for  Research  in  Government, 
the  issue  of  Municipal  Research,  No.  77,  September,  1916. 
All  the  other  reports  of  the  bureau  are  in  manuscript  form. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Budget  bulletin  No.  I — August  5,  1916 — 

Comparison  of  force  employed  on  building  inspection  and  the  salaries 
paid  in  various  cities.  Comp.  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  re- 
search of  the  Minneapolis  civic  and  commerce  association. 
[Minneapolis,  1916]  2  charts  on  8  sheets. 

246 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

Report  on  analysis  of  five  year  building  program  of  Board  of  edu- 
cation; proposed  two  and  three  year  school  building  programs 
by  the  Committee  on  municipal  research.  [Minneapolis,  1917] 
24  p. 

The  Bureau  of  municipal  research  of  the  Minneapolis  civic  and  com- 
merce association,  n.  p.,  1916.  up. 

Reprinted   from   Citizen  agencies  for  research  in  government. 
the  issue  of  Municipal  research,  No.  77,  Sept.,  1916. 

Springfield,  Mass. :  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  Under 
date  of  December  26,  1913,  an  offer  was  made  by  public-spir- 
ited citizens  to  the  mayor  and  city  council  of  Springfield  to 
bear  the  expense  of  an  expert  survey  of  the  city  with  a  view 
to  determining  the  advisability  of  establishing  a  permanent 
bureau  for  the  introduction  of  efficient  and  economical  meth- 
ods of  municipal  administration.  The  offer  was  accepted  and 
the  services  of  experts  from  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Mu- 
nicipal Research  obtained,  who  made  a  report  of  93  pages 
entitled  Organization  and  Administration  of  the  City  Govern- 
ment of  Springfield,  Massachusetts. 

As  a  result  of  this  survey  the  Springfield  bureau  was  es- 
tablished in  January,  1914.  It  is  supported  by  the  contri- 
butions of  fifty  or  more  persons  designated  as  members  and 
supporters.  The  manager  is  the  only  salaried  officer.  The 
functions  of  the  bureau  as  defined  in  its  articles  of  incorpora- 
tion are : 

To  collect,  classify,  analyze,  and  publish  facts  as  to  the 
administration  of  municipal  governments,  to  study  scientific 
methods  of  municipal  accounting  and  methods  of  efficient  and 
economical  municipal  administration,  to  hold  meetings  for  the 
discussion  of  such  subjects  and  the  education  therein  of  the 
members  of  this  corporation  and  to  publish  such  information 
and  discussions  and  such  other  matter  as  may  be  deemed  to 
be  conducive  to  the  education  of  the  public  on  such  subjects, 
and  generally  to  do  everything  necessary,  suitable,  and  proper 
for  the  accomplishment  of  any  of  the  above  purposes  and  the 
attainment  of  any  of  the  above  objects  provided  the  same  be 
not  inconsistent  with  the  laws  under  which  this  corporation 
is  organized. 

These  functions  are  further  defined  in  the  following  state- 
ment issued  by  the  bureau : 

247 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  Springfield  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  is  a  non- 
partisan,  non-political  civic  organization  supported  by  the  con- 
tributions of  52  civic  spirited  taxpayers  for  the  purpose  of : 
Gathering  and  publishing  facts  about  city  government;  pro- 
moting efficiency  in  the  city's  business  by  cooperating  with 
officials ;  securing  desirable  information  for  taxpayers  through 
the  installation  of  modern  methods  of  accounting  and  budget 
making;  assisting  city  officials  in  the  solution  of  technical 
problems;  advancing  impartial  constructive  recommendations 
for  increasing  the  usefulness  and  efficiency  of  government;  it 
assumes  that  the  .citizen  is  or  wants  to  be  part  of  the  govern- 
ment and  if  given  the  opportunity  will  be.  It  therefore  advo- 
cates :  Public  budget  making ;  public  budget  hearings  and  the 
issuance  of  adequate  budget  information  in  advance  thereof; 
supplying  citizens  through  periodical  pamphlets  and  regular 
reports  with  information  about  government  presented  in  an 
interesting  and  easily  assimilated  manner;  widest  publicity  in 
all  public  affairs. 

The  Bureau  is  at  the  service  of  any  official,  city  employee, 
or  citizen  and  will  endeavor  to  procure  for  anybody  free  of 
charge  any  information  about  civic  affairs  that  it  can.  It 
earnestly  solicits  inquiries,  suggestions,  and  criticisms.  Liter- 
ature will  be  mailed  to  any  address  upon  request. 


The  activities  of  the  bureau  since  its  establishment  are 
largely  indicated  by  the  list  of  publications  which  is  appended. 
In  addition,  however,  there  has  of  course  been  work  of  an 
investigating  and  advisory  character  that  does  not  appear  in 
print. 

The  bureau's  first  work  in  Springfield  was  directed  toward 
budget  reform.  A  study  was  made  of  the  city's  existing 
budget  system  and  as  a  result  of  this  study  certain  recom- 
mendations were  made  by  the  bureau. 

After  numerous  conferences  in  which  state,  city  and  bu- 
reau officials  participated,  it  was  agreed  at  a  conference  on 
May  24,  1915,  that  the  city  should  adopt  the  general  budget 
plan  advocated  by  the  bureau,  the  details  being  left  to  be 
worked  out  by  the  city  auditor  with  the  assistance  of  the  bu- 
reau. It  was  decided  that  the  departments  in  submitting  es- 
timates should  use  standard  forms,  drawn  by  the  bureau ;  that 
in  making  requests,  a  standard  classification  of  commodities 

248 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

or  objects  of  expenditure  be  used;  that  estimates  for  gov- 
ernmental services  be  submitted  according  to  a  standard  clas- 
sification of  organization  units;  that  code  designations  be 
used  for  all  classifications;  that  standard  uniform  printed  di- 
rections for  preparing  estimate  sheets  be  furnished;  and  that 
estimates  be  submitted  early  enough  for  careful  consideration 
before  passage  of  the  appropriation  acts. 

It  was  further  agreed  that  the  city  would  make  certain 
changes  in  its  departmental  and  general  accounting  along  lines 
suggested  by  the  bureau,  the  details  of  which  were  later 
worked  out  by  the  auditor  with  the  assistance  of  the  bureau. 

In  connection  with  the  actual  installation  of  the  changes 
adopted,  the  bureau,  at  the  auditor's  request,  performed  prac- 
tically all  of  the  labor  that  was  entailed. 

In  connection  with  the  installation  work,  the  bureau  pre- 
pared descriptive  articles  and  editorials  for  the  daily  papers, 
and  the  manager  made  addresses  from  time  to  time  before 
citizens'  organizations  describing  the  work  of  the  bureau. 

The  bureau  also  aided  the  charter  commission  by  furnish- 
ing material  and  data  to  the  drafting  committees. 

The  present  activities  of  the  bureau  consist  in  assisting  the 
departments  with  their  work  under  the  new  budget  and  ac- 
counting systems ;  obtaining  the  figures  for  setting  up  the  cen- 
tral books  according  to  the  new  plan ;  and  taking  up  the  adop- 
tion of  additional  forms  and  procedure  for  completing  the 
revenue  and  fund  control. 

The  bureau  is  at  present  endeavoring  to  secure  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  central  purchasing  department,  and  a  more  sim- 
plified municipal  register. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Public  affairs,  No.   I — Springfield,   1913? — 

Report  on  the   proposed  charter   for  the  city  of   Springfield,   Dec., 

1913.  16  p. 

The  organization  and  administration  of  the  Health  department  of 
Springfield,  Mass.  Report  of  a  survey  made  by  the  Springfield 
bureau  of  municipal  research,  April,  1914.  [Springfield,  Mass.] 

1914.  48  p. 

Report  on  accounts  of  the  city  of  Springfield  with  constructive  rec- 
ommendations .  .  .  Nov.,  1914.  [Springfield,  Mass.]  1914.  39  p. 

Report  on  present  methods  of  budget  making  with  recommendations 
for  revision  of  procedure  .  .  .  Oct.,  1914.  [Springfield,  Mass.] 
1914.  49  p. 

249 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Report  on  the  organization  and  administration  of  the  Department 
of  charities,  Springfield,  Mass.  April,  1914.  32  p. 

(1915)  budget  for  the  city  .  .  .  with  charts  and  statistics.     March, 
1915.     112  p. 

(1916)  budget  for  the  city  with  diagrams.    March,  1916.    78  p. 
1917  budget.     Reprint  with  diagrams.     57  p. 

Comparative  diagrams  of  standard  charter  forms  and  Springfield's 
organizations.  4  charts. 

General  semi-annual  financial  statement  for  city  of  Springfield  under 
new  system  of  accounts.  Aug.,  1916.  18  p. 

List  of  library  books  on  charters  and  allied  subjects. 

Proposed  city  manager  charter  for  the  city  of  Springfield.    31  p. 

Sample  standard  budget  sheets.     4  sheets. 

Directions  for  operating  expenditure  and  expense  accounts.  Issued 
by  the  Mayor  and  Auditor.  Nov.,  1915.  23  p.  (Reprint) 

Directions  for  preparing  the  budget.  Issued  by  the  Mayor.  Novem- 
ber, 1915.  32  p.  (Reprint) 

General  financial  statement  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  Nov.  30,  1916. 
93  P.  (Reprint) 

Akron,  Ohio :  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.1  The  Bureau 
of  Municipal  Research  of  Akron  was  formally  organized  in 
November,  1914,  and  began  active  work  on  January  i,  1915. 
It  is  an  independent  body  both  in  its  organization  and  work, 
but  is  affiliated  with  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  was  or- 
ganized through  the  efforts  of  a  former  president  of  the 
chamber  and  of  one  of  the  committees.  It  was  established 
for  a  period  of  five  years.  The  governing  body  consists  of 
the  officers  and  a  board  of  seven  trustees. 

Among  the  first  studies  made  by  the  bureau  was  a  survey 
of  the  accounting  system  of  the  city  government,  with  the  re- 
sult that  the  general  principles  of  the  accounting  scheme  in- 
stalled by  the  city  auditor  were  made  to  agree  with  those  laid 
down  by  the  state.  It  spent  much  of  the  first  six  months  of 
its  work  in  studying  in  detail  the  financial  condition  of  the 
city  of  Akron,  resulting  in  the  publication  of  a  report  on 
August  15,  1915,  giving  a  brief  description  of  the  reasons 
leading  up  to  the  annual  deficits,  and  suggesting  remedies. 
As  an  outgrowth  of  this  study  the  bureau  came  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  auditor  in  preparing  his  annual  report  so  as  to 

1  The  following  account  of  the  Akron  bureau  is  based  almost 
wholly  on  the  account  of  that  bureau  given  by  its  director  in  Munici- 
pal Research  No.  77,  Sept.,  1916,  Citizen  Agencies  for  Research  in 
Government.  To  a  considerable  extent  the  language  of  the  author 
has  been  followed  though  the  account  is  much  condensed. 

250 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

make  that  document  reflect  more  truly  the  condition  of  the 
city. 

The  bureau  has  advocated  the  use  of  modern  budget  meth- 
ods, and  to  that  end  analyzed  the  expenditures  of  each  divi- 
sion and  department  for  the  year  1914.  Forms  were  drawn 
up  and  submitted  to  the  city  auditor  and  the  mayor,  who 
adopted  them  as  official  and  requested  department  heads  to 
submit  their  1916  budgets  on  those  forms. 

The  bureau  made  a  study  and  submitted  recommendations 
concerning  the  civil  service.  It  called  attention  to  the  lack 
of  means  to  carry  out  the  simplest  features  of  the  civil  serv- 
ice law  of  Ohio.  Attention  was  also  directed  to  the  need  for 
higher  standards  in  examinations,  higher  standards  of  service, 
more  expert  help  to  operate  civil  service,  more  and  better 
records  of  examinations,  candidates,  etc.,  introduction  of  ef- 
ficient ratings  of  employees,  etc.  While  these  recommenda- 
tions have  not  been  adopted,  the  bureau  has,  by  request,  as- 
sisted in  preparing  examination  questions  and  has  frequently 
been  able  to  provide  material  for  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 

Among  the  first  investigations  of  the  bureau  was  that  of 
the  new  water-works  system.  The  demand  for  an  additional 
bond  issue  to  be  voted  on  seemed  to  warrant  a  complete  state- 
ment of  the  project — legislation,  bond  issues,  construction, 
contracts,  etc.,  in  order  that  the  public  might  have  proper  in- 
formation as  a  basis  for  voting. 

Another  of  the  early  studies  concerned  a  proposed  sew- 
age disposal  plant.  The  particular  question  studied  was  that 
of  the  means  by  which  the  city  could  get  a  plant  able  to  pro- 
vide ample  sewage  facilities  for  Akron  for  some  years  at  a 
total  cost  not  to  exceed  the  original  bond  issue  of  $446",ooo. 
Facts  placed  before  a  special  committee  of  the  chamber  led  to 
a  series  of  conferences  with  the  city  and  state  officials,  the 
director  and  the  engineer,  resulting  in  a  final  reduction  of 
$107,000,  thereby  making  unnecessary  any  additional  bond 
issue  to  complete  the  plant. 

The  bureau  aided  the  council  and  the  Service  Department 
in  establishing  the  contract  system  for  the  collection  of  gar- 
bage. The  advocacy  of  contract  rather  than  municipal  col- 
lection was  based  on  the  thought  that  the  city  might  avoid 

251 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

many  mistakes  and  gain  much  valuable  experience  through 
the  five  years'  life  of  the  contract;  also  on  the  fact  that  the  city 
was  at  the  same  time  embarking  on  two  other  new  municipal 
projects  which  could  not  be  let  privately,  viz.,  a  water  plant 
and  a  sewage  disposal  plant.  The  bureau  also  assisted  in 
preparing  the  specifications  and  the  contract  for  bidders. 

The  bureau  assisted  in  the  preparation  of  a  revised  sys- 
tem of  water  rates. 

During  the  winter  of  1914-15  the  bureau,  by  request,  un- 
dertook a  study  of  the  unemployment  situation  in  Akron 
through  an  analysis  of  the  records  of  the  Free  Employment 
Bureau. 

The  bureau  rendered  assistance  to  the  city  government  by 
gathering  information  from  other  cities  concerning  the  cost 
of  constructing  and  operating  workhouses.  As  a  result  of 
this  study  a  project  for  the  construction  of  a  workhouse  for 
Akron  was  abandoned. 

During  the  first  year  of  its  operation  the  bureau  made  six 
surveys  in  three  departments  as  follows :  Accounting  in 
the  auditor's  department;  organizations  and  records  in  the 
council  clerk's  office;  Bureau  of  Street  Repairs;  Bureau  of 
Street  Cleaning;  Division  of  Streets  in  the  Service  Depart- 
ment, and  a  general  reorganization  survey  of  the  same  depart- 
ment. The  cooperative  plan  of  training  for  public  service 
was  begun  shortly  after  the  bureau  was  organized.  Students 
of  the  Municipal  University  of  Akron  were  given  assignments 
dealing  with  real  city  problems,  that  is,  preparing  a  report  on 
a  comparison  of  city  budgets  for  the  past  five  years ;  analyz- 
ing the  bond  issues  and  preparing  a  statement  of  the  city's 
bonded  indebtedness;  comparative  study  of  charters  in  com- 
missioned cities;  study  of  water-main  extension;  and  study  of 
school  statistics.  Credit  toward  graduation  is  being  given  by 
the  university  faculty  for  this  work. 

The  following  excerpts,  taken  from  the  annual  report  of 
the  director  submitted  January  i,  1918,  show  the  nature  of 
the  more  recent  activities  of  the  bureau. 

The  Bureau  followed  closely  the  work  of  the  Finance 
Committee  in  its  apportionment  of  the  city's  fund  to  the  vari- 
ous departments  and  devoted  a  large  part  of  January  and 

252 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

July  to  this  work.  .  .  .  The  Bureau  furnished  the  Finance 
Committee  considerable  information  relative  to  estimat- 
ed revenues  and  past  expenditures  as  a  basis  for  its  work 
in  apportioning  funds.  When  the  work  of  the  Finance  Com- 
mittee was  completed  the  Bureau  prepared  and  mimeographed 
the  final  drafts  of  the  appropriation  ordinances  and  distributed 
copies  to  each  councilman,  department  head,  newspapers  and 
civic  organizations.  .  .  . 

In  response  to  a  resolution  (5358)  passed  by  the  Council 
inviting  the  Bureau  to  recommend  rules  and  regulations  gov- 
erning the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Council,  the  Bureau  made 
a  survey  of  this  office  and  issued  a  report  containing  suggested 
rules  and  regulations  with  certain  suggestions  for  improving 
the  service.  .  .  . 

The  Bureau  followed  closely  the  action  of  the  city  when  it 
was  considering  the  question  of  reletting  the  contract  for 
garbage  collection  or  of  beginning  collection  by  the  city  and 
furnished  information  to  its  officials  relative  to  the  advantages 
and  disadvantages  of  various  methods  and  the  experience  of 
other  cities.  .  .  . 

The  City  Council  had  for  some  time  the  need  for  a  just  and 
reasonable  schedule  of  salaries  throughout  the  city  service 
which  would  serve  as  a  guide  to  it  in  fixing  the  salaries  of 
the  various  municipal  employees.  On  January  22,  a  resolution 
was  passed  requesting  the  Bureau  to  cooperate  with  a  commit- 
tee of  the  Council  appointed  for  that  purpose,  and  on  July  23 
another  resolution  was  passed  authorizing  the  Bureau  to  obtain 
the  necessary  information  from  city  officials  and  employees. 
An  intensive  study  was  made  of  every  position  in  the  cky 
service  and  a  description  prepared  outlining  the  duties  of  each 
position,  the  necessary  qualifications  an  employee  should 
have  to  successfully  fill  the  position  and  the  minimum  and 
maximum  salary  which  should  attach  thereto.  Annual  salary 
increases  were  also  specified  for  each  position.  Studies  were 
also  made  of  the  duties,  qualifications  and  salaries  paid  similar 
positions  in  other  cities  and  in  the  local  industries  in 
Akron.  .  .  . 

During  the  year  another  advance  step  was  taken  in  the 
establishment  of  a  central  purchasing  department.  The 
Bureau  prepared  a  set  of  rules  and  regulations  governing  the 
purchasing  department  as  a  means  of  smoothing  out  some  of 
the  purchasing  and  accounting  difficulties.  .  .  . 

The  necessity  for  a  public  dump  being  apparent  for  some 

253 


4     EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

time,  the  engineer  of  the  Bureau  suggested  to  the  Service 
Director  the  possibility  of  making  a  dump  along  the  line  of 
the  main  outlet  sewer.  .  .  .  The  Bureau's  engineer  and 
the  Service  Director  made  a  survey  of  the  paved  streets  of 
the  city  to  determine  the  extent  and  location  of  repairs  needed 
and  an  estimate  of  the  probable  cost.  ...  At  the  re- 
quest of  the  City  Solicitor,  the  Bureau's  engineer  checked  up 
the  estimates  and  plans  of  the  city  for  the  Wolf  Ledge  Run 
Sewer.  .  .  . 

The  Bureau  prepared  a  series  of  five  articles  at  the  request 
of  the  new  charter  association  outlining  the  need  for  a  new 
charter.  These  appeared  in  the  Akron  Evening  Times. 
Facts  were  also  furnished  this  association  for  use  in  the 
preparation  of  a  voters'  pamphlet  which  was  published  and 
distributed  by  the  association.  Information  has  been  collected, 
charts  and  tables  prepared  so  as  to  have  this  available  for  the 
use  of  the  charter  commission  which  has  been  elected  by  the 
people  and  is  now  at  work  writing  a  new  charter.  .  .  . 

At  the  request  of  the  Mayor,  the  Bureau  prepared  a  state- 
ment explaining  the  increases  of  the  1918  City  Budget  request 
over  1917.  .  .  . 

The  Bureau  prepared  a  report  for  the  Taxation  Committee 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  on  the  effect  on  the  City  of 
Akron  of  certain  taxation  bills  which  were  before  the  Legis- 
lature. .  .  . 

A  report  on  the  schools  of  Akron  made  at  the  request  of 
the  Educational  Committee  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
gives  a  complete  description  of  the  Akron  schools  and  af- 
fords a  working  program  for  the  betterment  of  the  school 
system. 

The  bureau's  policy  with  regard  to  publicity  has  been  to 
get  the  facts  and  submit  them  for  correction  to  the  official 
involved,  and  to  give  out  the  facts  either  through  the  official 
or,  if  through  the  bureau  only,  at  a  time  when  the  publication 
will  not  jeopardize  progress. 

The  bureau  issues  a  weekly  official  bulletin  entitled  Pub- 
lic Information,  consisting  of  folders,  usually  of  four  pages 
each. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Annual  report  to  the  Board  of  trustees  and  to  members  of  the  Bureau 

of  municipal  research.    Jan.  i,  1916.     18  1.     (typewritten) 
Same.    Jan.  I,  1917.    46  1.     (typewritten) 

254 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

Public  information.     Bulletin  No.  I — Aug.  17,  1915 — (weekly) 
Contents. 

No.  i.  A  report  on  a  study  of  some  aspects  of  the  financial  con- 
dition of  Akron,  Ohio.  31  p.  [Later  bulletins  are 
in  the  form  of  small  folders.  The  last  one  issued  was 

under  date  of  .] 

Digest  of  departmental  city  reports.    1915. 
Report  of  a  study  on  improved  water  supply.    1915. 
Fundamental  facts  about  Akron's  proposed  charter.     1917.     12  p. 
The  Bureau  of  municipal  research  of  Akron.    1916.    16  p.    Reprinted 
from  Citizen  agencies  for  research  in  government,  the  issue  of 
Municipal  research  No.  77,  for  Sept.,  1916. 

Toronto,  Canada:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.     The 

Toronto  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  was  organized  on 
June  5,  1914.  It  is  a  private  non-partisan  organization  sup- 
ported by  membership  dues  and  subscriptions. 

The  permanent  staff,  which  is  charged  with  the  practical 
work  of  the  bureau,  is  headed  by  the  managing  director,  who 
has  had  extended  training  and  experience  in  public  adminis- 
tration and  in  research  in  the  fields  of  public  education,  pub- 
lic health  and  municipal  government. 

The  field  of  accounting  is  taken  care  of  by  a  consulting 
accountant,  a  staff  accountant,  and  accounting  specialists  em- 
ployed from  time  to  time.  The  bureau  employs  a  civil  en- 
gineer with  special  training  in  sanitary  engineering,  and  ex- 
perienced in  public  health  administration  and  municipal  re- 
search. Another  member  of  the  staff  specializes  in  render- 
ing cooperative  assistance  to  citizen  organizations  for  the  so- 
cial service.  When  a  special  opportunity  for  public  service 
offers,  demanding  particular  and  unusual  experience  and 
training,  the  bureau  employs  a  specialist  with  the  necessary 
qualifications  for  the  time  required  to  perform  the  specific 
work. 

The  program  of  the  bureau,  as  outlined  in  one  of  the  pub- 
lications, is: 

1.  The  establishment  of  a  modern  budget-making  procedure. 

2.  The  establishment  of  a  training  school  for  firemen  in  the 
fire  department. 

3.  The  immediate  organization  of  a  complete  system  of  fire 
prevention  inspection  by  the  uniformed  forces,  and  the 
obtaining  of  any  provincial  legislation  necessary  to  render 
this  inspection  immediately  effective. 

255 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

4.  The  making  of  a  thorough  study  of  the  civil  service  of 
the  city  as  a  basis  of  recommendations  looking  towards 
the  establishment  of  standard  grades  of  work,  and  corre- 
sponding rates  of  remuneration,  the  elimination  of  dupli- 
cation of  work,  the  abolition  of  unnecessary  positions,  the 
creation  of  necessary  positions,   increasing  the  rates  of 
pay  for  underpaid  work,  and  decreasing  the  rates  of  pay 
for  relatively  overpaid  work.     In  general,  the  setting  up 
of   adequate   civil   service   regulation   and   control   in   all 
departments  of  the  city. 

5.  The   informal   constitution   of    an   administrative   board 
made  up  of  the  heads  of  city  departments,  meeting  weekly 
or  bi-weekly  with  the  Mayor  as  chairman,  the  city  clerk 
being  secretary.     In  the  absence  of  provincial  legislation 
this   informal  committee  could   only   meet   for  purposes 
of    discussion,    interdepartmental    cooperation,    and    the 
formulation  of  policies  to  be  referred  to  the  board  of  con- 
trol and  city  council.     The  minutes  of  the  meetings  of 
the  administrative  board  should  be  published  with  the 
minutes  of  the  council  and  board  of  control. 

6.  A  thorough  study  of  the  assessment  methods  of  the  city 
with  special  reference  to  (a)  business  assessments,   (b) 
assessment    of    improvements,     (c)     local    improvement 
assessments,    (d)    equalization   of   assessments   and    (e) 
appropriations. 

7.  The  providing  of  the  city  auditor's  department  with  the 
necessary  staff  to  strengthen  the  auditing  control  of  the 
city's  expenditures. 

8.  The  provision  of  the  necessary  facilities  for  an  energetic 
following  up  of  the  city's  report  on  centralized  account- 
ing   control    and    uniform    departmental    accounting    to 
strengthen  administrative  control  of  the  city's  expendi- 
tures. 

9.  A  thorough  study  of  the  educational  resources  and  needs 
of  the  city. 

Since  its  establishment  in  1914,  the  bureau  has  assisted  in 
the  establishment  of  the  scientific  form  of  budget  for  the 
city.  It  has  studied  the  accounting  and  estimate-making  of 
two  organization  units  of  the  city  government,  and  has  made 
recommendations  concerning  them.  It  has  interested  itself 
in  the  reorganization  of  the  Fire  Department;  made  a  field 
survey  of  the  City  Street  Cleaning  and  Garbage  Disposal 

256 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

Service;  conducted  a  help-your-city  campaign;  studied  recrea- 
tion facilities  of  the  city,  and  wage  conditions;  has  made  in- 
quiries into  school  problems;  and  has  made  studies  of  the 
assessments  and  of  the  Toronto  city  organization. 

The  bureau  maintains  a  reference  library  in  which  copies 
of  all  completed  working  papers  of  every  study  made  by  the 
bureau  are  carefully  preserved.  It  maintains  a  reference  li- 
brary of  books,  reports,  and  monographs,  without  duplicat- 
ing unnecessarily  the  material  on  the  shelves  of  the  public 
library.  This  library  and  reference  service  are  open  to  the 
public,  and  a  desk  is  kept  free  for  such  use.  The  bureau 
has  also  responded  to  many  requests  for  speakers  on  civic 
topics. 

The  bureau's  publications  are  issued  in  the  form  of 
pamphlets  containing  reports  of  important  investigations  and 
studies,  folders  and  pamphlets  known  as  White  Papers, 
and  occasional  folders  known  as  Bulletins,  which  contain 
brief  statements  of  information  of  current  interest. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Annual  report,  ist-4th,  1915-1918.     Toronto,  1915 — 
Report  year  ends  Feb.  28. 

Citizen  control  of  the  citizen's  business.  White  paper,  No.  I  (3,  6, 
13-16,  18-19).  Toronto,  1915 — 

Effective  citizen  cooperation.  Bulletin  No.  I  (65).  March  6,  1914- 
(Jan.  29,  1918).  Toronto,  1914 — 

Toronto's  budget  for  1915,  1916,  1917.    Toronto,  1915-1917.     (3)  v. 

The  citizen  and  the  city's  business.  Toronto,  Ontario  press  limited, 
n.d.  7  p. 

Why  a  Bureau  of  municipal  research  was  needed  two  years  ago. 
Why  it  is  needed  this  year.  Why  it  will  be  needed  twenty  years 
from  now.  Toronto,  n.d.  cover  title,  16  p. 

Administrative   study  of  the  Toronto   Department  of  public  health 
as  of  March    ist,   1915,  by  the   Bureau  of  municipal   research, 
Toronto,  Ont.  .  .  .   [Toronto,  1915]     53  p.  illus.,  port.,  diagrs. 
Reprinted    from    The    Public    health    journal,    issues    of    July, 
August,   September  and  October,   1915. 

Health  survey.  Report  of  administrative  study  of  the  Health  de- 
partment. November,  1915. 

An  analysis  of  Toronto's  budget  for  1917,  based  upon  the  official 
estimates,  rearranged  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research  so 
as  to  show  costs  of  services  rendered  and  of  things  purchased. 
Toronto,  1917.  24  p.  illus. 

Can  a  community  plan  its  giving  for  community  purposes,  or  must 
individuals  continue  to  give  without  a  knowledge  of  the  commu- 
nity's needs  and  what  resources  exist  to  meet  these  needs?  A 

257 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

discussion  of  haphazard  versus  planned  philanthropy  based  on 
a  study  of  the  facts.  Toronto,  Issued  by  the  Toronto  Bureau  of 
municipal  research,  1917.  47,  [i]  p.  incl.  illus.,  diagrs.,  forms. 
Report  on  the  schools  of  Akron,  made  for  the  Education  committee 
of  the  Akron  chamber  of  commerce,  by  Horace  L.  Brittain,  di- 
rector of  the  Toronto  Bureau  of  municipal  research  .  .  .  [Akron, 
1917]  234  p.  illus. 


Denver,  Colo.:  Civic  and  Legislative  Bureau  of  the  Den- 
ver Civic  and  Commercial  Association.  The  Civic  and  Leg- 
islative Bureau  of  the  Denver  Civic  and  Commercial  Associa- 
tion of  Denver,  Colorado,  created  in  1916,  is  the  successor 
in  its  activities  of  the  Colorado  Taxpayers  Protective  League 
which  was  established  in  1914.  The  bureau  is  presided  over 
by  a  chairman  and  a  secretary,  the  latter  being  a  paid  offi- 
cer. The  present  secretary  is  also  secretary  of  the  Survey 
Committee  of  State  Affairs  of  Colorado. 

The  first  important  work  undertaken  by  the  Colorado  Tax- 
payers Protective  League,  soon  after  its  creation,  had  been 
the  employment  in  1914  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 
of  New  York  City  to  make  a  survey  of  certain  departments 
of  the  city  and  county  of  Denver.  This  survey  covered  the 
Departments  of  Social  Welfare,  Safety,  Property,  Improve- 
ments, Finance,  and  Accounts  and  Auditing;  the  budget,  in- 
debtedness, the  Civil  Service  Commission,  the  offices  of  the 
jury  commissioner,  of  the  election  commission  and  of  the 
public  administrator,  and  the  Juvenile  Court.  A  critical  ex- 
amination was  also  made  of  the  Denver  charter.  The  report 
of  the  survey  contains  criticisms  of  organization,  methods 
and  conditions  as  found,  and  constructive  suggestions. 

Much  attention  was  also  given  by  the  league  to  the  sub- 
ject of  a  budget  for  Denver;  and  monthly  general  balance 
sheets  and  other  financial  statements  for  each  of  the  last  six 
months  of  1915  as  well  as  budget  estimates  for  1916  were 
prepared  and  issued. 

In  1916,  a  school  survey  committee  consisting  of  one  rep- 
resentative each  of  the  Denver  Board  of  Education,  and  the 
Colorado  Taxpayers  Protective  League,  made  an  extensive 
survey  of  the  Denver  public  schools.  The  services  of  special 
experts  were  engaged,  and  reports  made  on  the  general  or- 
ganization and  management  and  the  work  of  the  schools,  vo- 

258 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

cational  education,  and  the  business  management,  school 
buildings  and  grounds  and  health  work  in  the  schools.  Fol- 
lowing this  survey,  a  special  committee  was  appointed  by  the 
Civic  and  Legislative  Bureau  in  collaboration  with  educators, 
school  officials  and  business  men,  which  drew  up  a  tentative 
outline  of  a  proposed  educational  code  for  the  state  of  Colo- 
rado. 

During  the  same  year  the  Institute  for  Public  Service  of 
New  York  City  made  a  field  survey  of  the  Denver  Federation 
for  Charity  and  Philanthropy  for  the  Colorado  Taxpayers 
Protective  League  at  the  request  of  the  federation.  The 
survey  covered  twenty-six  charitable  agencies  represented  in 
the  federation.  A  long  list  of  constructive  suggestions  was 
presented  in  the  report  of  the  survey,  and  at  a  general  meet- 
ing of  the  officers  and  trustees  of  all  the  institutions  com- 
prising the  federation  a  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted 
pledging  the  separate  institutions  "to  unite  their  efforts  in  co- 
operating for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  plans  and  recom- 
mendations of  this  report  as  rapidly  as  possible." 

On  January  n,  1917,  the  bureau  began  to  issue,  as  a  sup- 
plement to  the  weekly  issue  of  The  Commercial,  the  organ  of 
the  parent  association,  a  Legislative  Index  for  the  use  of 
members  of  the  legislature  and  the  public  generally  which  con- 
tains notations  of  the  progress  each  week  of  all  bills  before 
the  legislature  and  other  information  of  interest  in  connec- 
tion with  the  progress  of  legislation  that  is  pending  or  has 
been  enacted. 

The  bureau  is  supplying  field  work  for  students  of  the 
Denver  University.  A  number  of  these  students  have  been 
engaged  upon  the  school  code  draft  and  other  work,  for  which 
they  obtain  credits  in  their  university  courses.  Students  have 
also  been  stationed  in  the  state  legislature  for  the  purpose  of 
recording  the  progress  of  every  bill  and  resolution  in  that 
body,  this  information  being  used  for  the  Legislative  Index. 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  publications  of  the  Colorado 
Taxpayers  Protective  League  and  the  Civic  and  Legislative 
Bureau  of  the  Denver  Civic  and  Commercial  Association  and 
of  reports  made  under  their  auspices  and  with  their  coop- 
eration. 

259 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


PUBLICATIONS     OF    THE    COLORADO    TAXPAYERS    PROTECTIVE    LEAGUE 

Denver-budget  estimates  for  1916.    November,  1915.    84  p. 

Denver-general  balance  sheet  and  other  financial  statements,  July, 
I9i5-Dec.,  1915.  6  v. 

Procedure  for  the  office  of  the  Commissioner  of  supplies,    n.d.     17  p. 

Standard  classification  of  accounts  for  the  use  of  the  city  and 
county  of  Denver,  with  explanatory  statements  and  ready  ref- 
erence index.  By  Thomas  R.  Lill  for  the  Colorado  taxpayers 
protective  league.  Denver,  1915.  57  p. 

Denver  federation  for  charity  and  philanthropy.  Summary  report 
of  field  survey  for  the  Colorado  taxpayers  protective  league  .  .  . 
Denver,  1916.  30  [2]  p. 

Uniform  system  of  accounts  for  .  .  .  Denver,  1916.    81  p. 

City  and  county  of  Denver;  report  on  a  survey  of  certain  depart- 
ments .  .  .  prepared  for  the  Colorado  taxpayers  protective 
league,  by  the  Bureau  of  municipal  research,  New  York,  1914. 
[Denver,  1914?]  583  p.  plates,  fold,  plan,  fold,  diagrs. 

PUBLICATIONS   OF   THE   CIVIC    AND   LEGISLATIVE    BUREAU    OF   THE   DENVER 
CIVIC  AND  COMMERCIAL   ASSOCIATION 

Tentative  outline  of  proposed  educational  code  for  the  state  of 
Colorado,  (revised  to  December  I,  1916)  .  .  .  [Denver,  1917?] 

30  P- 

A  proposed  educational  code  for  Colorado,  prepared  by  committee 
appointed  under  the  Civic  and  legislative  bureau  of  the  Denver 
civic  and  commercial  association  in  collaboration  with  educa- 
tors, school  officials  and  business  men  from  all  parts  of  Colo- 
rado; and  based  upon  the  most  progressive  educational  organiza- 
tion and  legislation  in  other  states  viewed  in  the  light  of  Colo- 
rado's needs.  [Denver]  1917.  90  [2]  p. 

Legislative  index  of  the  twenty-first  General  assembly.  Prepared 
under  the  direction  of  the  Civic  and  legislative  bureau.  Jan.  n, 
1917— 

Supplement  to  The  Commercial,  the  weekly  publication  of  the  Den- 
ver civic  and  commercial  association. 

Rochester,  N.  Y.:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,     The 

Rochester  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  was  incorporated 
April  20,  1915.  The  governing  body  is  a  board  of  eleven 
trustees  of  which  the  president  of  the  Rochester  Chamber  of 
Commerce  is  ex-officio  a  member.  The  executive  head  of  the 
bureau  is  the  director  who  is  also  the  secretary  of  the  cor- 
poration. 

The  purposes  for  which  the  corporation  was  formed,  as 
expressed  in  the  certificate  of  incorporation,  are : 

i.     To  serve  the  City  of  Rochester,  New  York,  as  a  non- 
partisan  and  scientific  agency  of  citizen  inquiry;  to  promote 

260 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

efficient  and  economical  municipal  government,  scientific 
methods  of  accounting  and  of  reporting  the  details  of 
municipal  business  in  said  city,  with  a  view  to  facilitating  the 
work  of  public  officials ;  and  for  the  above  purposes,  to  collect, 
classify,  analyze,  correlate,  and  interpret  facts  as  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  municipal  government,  and  to  make  such  in- 
formation available  to  public  officials  and  citizens,  in  order 
that  inefficient  methods  of  administration  may  be  eliminated 
and  efficient  methods  introduced  and  encouraged ;  and  to  pro- 
mote the  development  of  a  constructive  program  for  the  said 
City  of  Rochester  that  shall  be  based  upon  adequate  knowl- 
edge and  consideration  of  community  needs. 

2.  To  do  all  and  everything  necessary,  'suitable  and 
proper  for  the  accomplishment  of  any  of  the  purposes  or  the 
attainment  of  any  of  the  objects  or  the  furtherance  of  any  of 
the  powers  herein  set  forth,  provided  that  the  same  are  not 
inconsistent  with  the  laws  under  which  the  corporation  is 
organized. 

The  activities  of  the  bureau  have  been  two- fold,  namely, 
cooperating  with  public  officials  in  securing  greater  efficiency, 
and  informing  the  public  of  what  the  government  is  doing, 
how  it  is  being  done  and  what  it  costs. 

Among  the  first  of  the  bureau's  activities  was  an  arrange- 
ment with  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 
whereby  the  latter  made  a  general  study  of  the  local  city  and 
county  governments,  resulting  in  the  publication  of  an  elab- 
orate report  of  a  general  survey  of  the  government  of  the 
city  of  Rochester  with  critical  appraisal  and  constructive  sug- 
gestions, and  reports  describing  the  organization  and  func- 
tions of  the  city  of  Rochester  and  of  the  county  of  Monroe. 

Studies  were  made  of  the  Street  Cleaning  Service,  the 
Department  of  Public  Works  and  the  Department  of  Chari- 
ties, and  on  the  inspection  of  asphalt  repairs,  and  reports 
were  submitted  to  the  commissioner  of  public  works  propos- 
ing reorganization  of  these  services;  likewise  studies  were 
made  and  reports  submitted  to  the  mayor  concerning  the  safety 
conditions  of  the  Convention  Hall  gallery,  the  methods  of  let- 
ting contracts  for  local  improvements,  the  collection  and  dis- 
posal of  garbage,  and  the  proposed  specifications  for  fire  hose 
for  the  city  of  Rochester.  A  study  was  also  made  of  the 

261 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Engineering  Department  and  a  report  submitted  to  the  city 
engineer. 

The  bureau  has  cooperated  since  its  beginning  with  the  city 
comptroller,  and  while  it  has  made  no  formal  reports  or  writ- 
ten recommendations  concerning  city  accounting,  such  mat- 
ters were  informally  discussed  with  the  comptroller.  In  this 
way  the  bureau  assisted  the  comptroller  in  the  preparation  of 
the  1916  budget  and  in  the  arrangement  of  a  rather  elaborate 
classification  of  objects  of  expenditures,  which  was  published 
in  May,  1916. 

Most  of  the  work  done  by  the  bureau  resulted  in  the  prep- 
aration of  reports  which  were  not  published  but  submitted  in 
manuscript  form  to  the  city  officials  concerned.  Following 
is  a  list  of  the  publications  and  manuscript  reports  which 
have  been  issued  either  by  or  through  the  instrumentality  of 
the  bureau. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Government  of  Monroe  County,  N.  Y.  (including  town  government), 
description  of  organization  and  functions,  transmitted  to  the 
New  York  state  constitutional  convention  by  the  New  York 
state  constitutional  convention  commission,  prepared  for  the 
Rochester  bureau  of  municipal  research,  by  the  New  York  bu- 
reau of  municipal  research,  1915.  [Albany,  J.  B.  Lyon  com- 
pany, printers,  1915.]  60  p.  fold,  diagrs. 

(In  New  York  state  constitutional  convention  commission.    City 
and  county  government.     [No.  3]     Albany,  1915.) 

Government  of  the  city  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  description  of  organiza- 
tion and  functions,  transmitted  to  the  New  York  state  consti- 
tutional convention  by  the  New  York  state  constitutional  conven- 
tion commission,  prepared  for  the  Rochester  bureau  of  munici- 
pal research,  by  the  New  York  bureau  of  municipal  research, 
1915.  Albany,  J.  B.  Lyon  company,  printers,  1915.  104  p.  fold, 
diagrs. 

(In  New  York  state  constitutional  convention  commission.    City 
and  county  government.     [No.  2]     Albany,  1915.) 

Government  of  the  city  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.  General  survey,  critical 
appraisal  and  constructive  suggestions,  prepared  for  the  Roches- 
ter bureau  of  municipal  research,  by  the  New  York  bureau  of 
municipal  research,  May-July,  1915.  [Rochester?  1915?]  2  p. 
1.,  546  p.  plates,  plan,  fold,  tab.,  diagrs. 

Average  costs  of  asphalt  pavements.     1916.     fold,  table. 

Average  costs  of  brick  pavements.     1916.     fold,  table. 

The  purposes  and  organization  of  the  Rochester  bureau  of  munici- 
pal research,  inc.  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Democrat  and  chronicle 
print.  [1916]  20  p. 

Proposed  specifications  for  fire  hose  in  the  city  of  Rochester  and 

262 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

report  thereon;  submitted  to  the  mayor,  to  the  commissioner  of 
public  safety  and  to  the  Board  of  contract  and  supply.  [Roches- 
ter] Rochester  Bureau  of  municipal  research,  inc.  [1917]  22 
p.,  i  1.  incl.  tab. 

Report  on  the  problem  of  snow  removal  in  the  city  of  Rochester, 
N.  Y.  .  .  .  Rochester,  1917.  44  p.  pi.,  charts. 

Abstract  of  a  report  on  the  Department  of  charities  of  the  city  of 
Rochester,  N.  Y.  Rochester,  Rochester  bureau  of  municipal 
research,  inc.,  1918.  37  p. 

San  Francisco,  Cal.:  Bureau  of  Government  Research. 
In  April,  1916,  the  San  Francisco  Real  Estate  Board,  as  a 
result  of  the  rapidly  rising  taxes  in  that  city,  appointed  a  tax 
committee.  The  first  work  undertaken  by  this  committee  was 
the  examination  of  the  1916-17  budget  estimates  which  had 
been  transmitted  to  the  finance  committee  of  the  Board  of 
Supervisors.  The  committee  found,  however,  that  the  field 
of  its  work  was  so  broad  and  the  problem  so  complex  that 
a  staff  of  trained  experts  was  needed  to  accomplish  the  de- 
sired results.  It  was,  therefore,  decided  to  raise  a  fund  to 
finance  a  general  survey  of  the  city  and  county  government. 
In  less  than  six  weeks  a  fund  of  over  $11,000  was  subscribed 
in  $100  subscriptions. 

With  this  fund  available,  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search in  New  York  City  was  employed  to  make  an  unbiased, 
analytical  and  constructive  survey  of  the  principal  depart- 
ments of  the  city  government,  $8,500  being  set  aside  for  this 
purpose.  This  survey  was  begun  early  in  June,  1916,  and  the 
report  submitted  in  September.  The  results  were  published 
in  a  volume  of  over  seven  hundred  pages  entitled,  The  Gov- 
ernment of  the  City  and  County  of  San  Francisco  Survey  Re- 
port. 

In  order  that  the  program  which  the  survey  inaugurated 
might  be  followed  up  it  was  decided  to  organize  a  local  bu- 
reau of  research  in  San  Francisco,  and  on  October  19,  1916, 
the  new  organization  was  incorporated  under  the  title,  "San 
Francisco  Bureau  of  Government  Research." 

The  bureau  is  declared  to  be  "an  incorporated,  non-par- 
tisan citizens'  agency  to  study  public  business,  cooperate  with 
officials  and  specifically  work  for  economy  and  efficiency  in 
municipal  affairs."  It  is  financed  for  five  years  with  an  an- 
nual income  of  $20,000. 

263 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  present  governing  body  is  a  board  of  ten  trustees  in- 
cluding the  chairman,  vice-chairman,  treasurer  and  secretary. 
All  officers,  including  the  director,  are  elected  by  the  trustees. 
The  constitution,  however,  provides  for  sixteen  trustees.  The 
director  is  the  paid  executive  of  the  bureau.  The  present 
director  participated  in  the  above  mentioned  survey  as  an  ex- 
pert of  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  He  is 
assisted  by  a  staff  of  five  experts.  There  is  also  an  executive 
committee  appointed  by  the  chairman  with  the  approval  of 
the  trustees. 

Membership  in  the  organization  may  be  obtained  by  a 
two-thirds  vote  of  the  board  of  trustees  or  by  a  two-thirds 
vote  of  the  existing  members  of  the  association,  but  no  per- 
son holding  a  salaried  position  in  the  city  or  state  govern- 
ment may  be  a  member. 

The  functions  of  the  bureau,  as  defined  in  the  constitution 
of  the  organization,  are: 

To  act  as  an  incorporated,  non-political,  non-profit-making 
citizens'  agency  for  securing  the  highest  obtainable  degree 
of  efficiency  and  economy  in  the  transaction  of  public  business, 
particularly  in  the  municipality  of  San  Francisco,  through  in- 
vestigating, collecting,  classifying,  studying  and  interpreting 
facts  concerning  the  powers,  duties,  actions,  limitations  and 
problems  of  the  several  departments  of  government,  and  mak- 
ing such  information  available  to  public  officials  and  citizens, 
and  promoting  the  development  of  a  constructive  program  for 
the  City  of  San  Francisco  that  shall  be  based  upon  adequate 
knowledge  and  consideration  of  community  needs,  thereby 
encouraging  economy  in  the  conduct  of  public  business  in 
order  that  the  taxpayers  may  be  assured  full  return  value  in 
services  rendered  for  taxes  paid  and  money  spent  in  govern- 
mental cost  payments;  and  further,  to  do  any  and  all  lawful 
things  that  may  be  necessary  for  or  conducive  toward  the 
attainment  of  any  and  all  of  the  objects  and  ends  hereinbefore 
expressed. 

The  bureau  upon  its  organization  took  over  the  active 
work  of  the  tax  committee  of  the  San  Francisco  Real  Estate 
Board,  although  the  latter  continued  to  exist.  The  activities 
of  the  bureau  during  the  year  of  its  existence  have  been  very 
largely  in  the  field  of  finance,  and  promoting  the  adoption  of 

264 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

improved  forms  of  estimates  and  better  budgetary  procedure. 
Since  February  21,  1917,  the  bureau  issues  a  bi-weekly  folder 
entitled,  The  City. 

PUBLICATIONS 

The  City  ...  No.  1(10),  Feb.  21,  1917  (Sept.  5,  1917)-  San  Fran- 
cisco, 1917 — 

Uniform  classification  of  expenditures  for  use  in  preparing  1917-18 
budget  estimates,  together  with  revised  budget  estimate  forms 
and  instructions  for  their  use,  by  Klink,  Bean  &  Co.  [with  the 
cooperation  of  the  Bureau]. 

Detroit,  Mich.:  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research.    The 

Detroit  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research  was  incorporated 
March  22,  1916,  and  began  operations  the  following  month. 
It  is  a  private  organization  with  a  governing  body  of  ten  trus- 
tees who  were  its  original  incorporators  and  are  responsible 
for  its  policies  and  financing.  In  order  that  the  bureau  may 
be  assured  freedom  from  partisan  politics,  it  is  provided  in 
the  by-laws  that :  "Every  trustee  who  shall  hold  office  or  be 
a  candidate  for  public  office  or  accept  any  public  employment 
shall  automatically  cease  to  be  such  trustee." 

The  working  force  consists  of  a  director  and  a  staff  of 
three  experts,  all  of  whom  have  had  previous  training  in  mu- 
nicipal research  work. 

The  bureau  has.  an  annual  budget  of  $25,000,  the  funds 
being  raised  by  subscription. 

The  purpose  of  the  bureau  is  declared  to  be  "to  secure  ef- 
ficiency and  economy  in  government,  whether  national,  state 
or  municipal,  by  all  lawful  means  other  than  promoting  or  de- 
feating the  election,  or  appointment  to  public  office,  or  the 
employment  of  any  person  or  persons  in  a  public  position." 
The  bureau  cooperates  with  persons  in  office  by  increasing 
efficiency  and  eliminating  waste,  and  it  serves  as  an  inde- 
pendent non-partisan  agency  for  keeping  citizens  informed 
about  the  city's  business;  and  its  director  says  that  "it  pro- 
poses to  deal  with  the  matter  of  securing  clean,  well  paved 
streets,  adequate  sewers,  a  low  death  rate,  reduced  sickness, 
proper  disposal  of  refuse,  efficient  police  and  fire  protection, 
centralized  purchasing,  standardized  supplies,  reasonable  sal- 
aries, equitable  assessments,  and  the  thoughtful  expenditure 
of  public  funds." 

265 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

While  the  bureau  has  existed  but  a  short  time,  it  has  made 
an  extensive  survey  of  the  Sewer  Department  of  Detroit,  and 
has  issued  a  report  on  the  same  with  criticisms  and  recom- 
mendations regarding  existing  conditions,  all  of  which  have 
been  taken  up  favorably  by  the  commissioner  of  public  works. 
It  has  also  made  an  intensive  study  of  the  organization  and 
administration  of  the  local  school  board,  with  the  full  co- 
operation of  all  its  members;  an  intensive  study  of  the  city's 
financial  methods,  with  the  end  in  view  of  systematizing  ac- 
counting and  budget  procedure;  and  a  report  on  the  status 
of  the  work  of  separation  of  grade  crossings  in  the  city  of 
Detroit,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  summarize  briefly  the 
present  status  o.f  the  work  of  separating  the  grade  crossings 
of  the  streets  and  steam  railways  of  the  city  of  Detroit,  and 
to  suggest  measures  which,  if  adopted,  will  secure  a  more  rapid 
transaction  of  this  work,  and  at  the  same  time  will  make  pos- 
sible adequate  protection  of  the  interests  of  the  city. 

At  the  instance  of  the  Detroit  bureau  the  New  York  Bu- 
reau of  Municipal  Research  made  a  report  on  the  Department 
of  Buildings  of  the  City  of  Detroit.  This  report  is  a  state- 
ment made  by  the  New  York  bureau  to  suggest  lines  of  fur- 
ther study. 

The  bureau  has  undertaken  to  furnish  constant,  reliable 
and  unbiased  information  to  the  public' so  that  when  the  peo- 
ple of  Detroit  consider  the  municipal,  county  and  state  gov- 
ernments and  discuss  their  merits  or  demerits,  they  may  have 
access  to  these  facts. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  on  city  budget.     1916. 

The    Detroit    bureau    of    governmental    research  .  .  .  [Prospectus] 

May,  1916.     Detroit,  1916.     8  p. 
The  citizen  and  the  city  government  .  .  .  July,  1917.     Detroit,  1917. 

ii  p. 
A  year  of  municipal  progress.  An  inventory  July  I,  1916,  to  June 

30,  1917.     Detroit,  Mich.     15  p. 
The  public's  business  .  .  .  No.  1-16.   March  23,  1917 — Detroit,  1917 — 

A  bulletin  in  folder  form  issued  at  irregular  intervals. 

Toledo,  Ohio :  Public  Research  Bureau,  Toledo  Commerce 
Club.  In  May,  1915,  the  Toledo  Commerce  Club  appointed 
a  committee  under  the  name  of  Public  Efficiency  and  Econ- 

266 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

omy  Committee,  to  concern  itself  with  matters  of  municipal 
administration.  This  committee  employed  the  Ohio  Insti- 
tute for  Public  Efficiency  to  make  a  thorough  study  of  the 
financial  status  and  governmental  organization  of  Toledo. 
The  committee  cooperated,  through  the  institute,  with  the 
Bureaus  of  Municipal  Research  of  Columbus  and  Akron,  in 
working  out,  with  the  State  Bureau  of  Inspection  and  Super- 
vision of  Public  Offices,  a  new  system  of  accounting  for  the 
cities  of  Ohio.  This  system  was  adopted  by  the  Toledo  city 
government  under  its  new  charter  which  went  into  effect  Jan- 
uary i,  1916.  In  1916  the  committee  changed  its  name  to  the 
Public  Research  Committee,  and  gave  the  title  of  Public  Re- 
search Bureau  to  the  department  of  the  Toledo  Commerce 
Club  handling  its  work.  The  .director  of  the  bureau  in  a  let- 
ter to  the  author  of  the  present  work  states  that,  since  the 
change  of  name,  the  bureau  has  undertaken  to  work  out  a 
complete  detailed  analysis  of  the  expenditures  of  the  city  in 
1916.  This  was  intended  for  use  as  a  basis  for  budget  mak- 
ing in  1917  and  1918.  The  bureau  has  also  undertaken  an 
investigation  of  the  cost  of  garbage  collection. 

The  bureau  has  issued  no  publications  of  its  own,  but 
plans  to  use  a  part  of  the  Commerce  Club  News,  the  organ 
of  the  Commerce  Club,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  publicity 
to  its  work. 

Yonkers,   N.   Y.:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.     The 

Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  of  Yonkers,  New  York,  is  a 
non-partisan  incorporated  citizens'  organization,  established 
in  September,  1916.  The  governing  body  is  a  board  of  fif- 
teen trustees,  the  officers  being  a  president,  a  vice-president, 
a  treasurer  and  a  secretary.  The  latter  is  the  paid  executive 
head  of  the  bureau.  The  bureau  is  entirely  supported  by 
voluntary  contributions,  its  estimated  cost  of  operation  being 
about  $5,000  per  annum. 

The  purposes  of  the  bureau  as  set  forth  in  its  charter  are : 

(a)  To  promote  efficient  and  economical  municipal  gov- 
ernment ;  to  promote  the  adoption  of  scientific  methods  of  ac- 
counting and  of  reporting  the  details  of  municipal  business, 
with  a  view  to  facilitating  the  work  of  public  officials ;  to  secure 

267 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

constructive  publicity  in  matters  pertaining  to  municipal  prob- 
lems; and  to  these  ends  to  collect,  to  classify,  to  analyze,  to 
correlate,  to  interpret,  and  to  publish  facts  as  to  the  admin- 
istration of  municipal  government. 

(b)  To  do  all  and  everything  necessary,   suitable   and 
proper  for  the  accomplishment  of  any  of  the  purposes  or  the 
attainment  of  any  of  the  objects  or  the  furtherance  of  any 
of  the  powers  herein  set  forth,  provided  the  same  be  not  in- 
consistent  with   the   laws   under   which    this    corporation   is 
organized. 

(c)  In  securing  the  attainment  of  the  above  purposes,  an 
effort  will  be  made  to  cooperate  with  such  public  officials  of 
the  city  as  desire  to  utilize  the  data,  investigations  and  reports 
of  the  Bureau. 

Immediately  upon  its  organization  the  bureau  began  a 
study  of  the  accounting  system  of  the  city  and  as  a  result 
recommended  improved  methods  of  preparing  the  city  budget. 
These  recommendations  have  been  adopted  by  the  Common 
Council  and  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  and 
forms  and  instructions  prepared  by  the  bureau  have  been  is- 
sued by  the  mayor  to  put  them  into  effect.  By  this  means  de- 
tailed information  has  been  given  to  city  officials  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  budget,  and  departmental  requisitions  have 
been  presented  in  November  instead  of,  as  in  some  cases,  as 
late  as  March. 

The  next  study  was  with  reference  to  the  cost  of  laying 
water-mains,  a  subject  over  which  there  had  been  some  con- 
troversy. The  work  had  been  done  by  the  city  through  the 
employment  of  day  labor.  The  bureau  found  that  by  laying 
the  water-mains  by  contract,  work  for  which  the  city  paid 
approximately  $100,000  could  have  been  done  for  $20,000. 
Since  the  issue  of  this  report  no  extensions  of  water-mains 
by  day  labor,  chargeable  to  the  city,  have  been  authorized  by 
the  Common  Council. 

Another  study  was  of  the  salaries  of  city  employees  in 
Yonkers  and  a  comparison  with  those  in  other  cities.  The 
bureau  found  that  Yonkers  is  paying 'more  for  certain  serv- 
ices than  it  should  pay,  and  recommended  that  all  proposed 
salary  increases  be  carefully  Considered,  and  that  no  increases 

268 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

he  made  unless  it  is  shown  to  the  Board  of  Estimates  that  the 
services  performed  will  be  worth  the  increased  rate. 

Numerous  informal  suggestions  have  been  made  to  vari- 
ous city  departments  regarding  the  details  of  administrative 
procedure. 

All  the  reports  issued  by  the  bureau  have  appeared  in 
printed  form.  They  are  as  follows : 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  No.  I — Yonkers,  1916 — 
Contents. 

No.  [i]     Suggested    improvements    in    the    budget    methods    of 

the  city  of  Yonkers.     1916.    8  p. 
No.  2.     The  cost  of  laying  water-mains  by  the  city  of  Yonkers. 

1916.  8  p. 

No.  3.     Comparisons  of  the  salaries  of  city  employees  in  Yonkers 

and  other  cities.     1917.     4  p. 

No.  4.     What  will  the  1917  budget  be?     1917.     8  p. 
No.  5.     Suggested  improvements  in  the  audit  of  claims  by  the 

Comptroller's  office.     1917.    8  p. 
No.  6.     Suggested   improvements   in   the  collection   of   revenue. 

1917.  8  p. 

No.  7.     The  purchase  of  fire  department  equipment  in  Yonkers. 

1917.     8  p. 

No.  8.  Memorandum  to  the  Common  council,  the  Board  of  es- 
timate and  the  public  on  the  proposed  extension  of 
the  water  supply  system.  1917.  18  p. 

No.  9.     Financial  facts  which  should  be  of  interest  to  the  citi- 
zens of  Yonkers.     1918.     24  p. 
City  of  Yonkers,  New  York.     Directions  for  preparing  the  budget. 

Prepared  by  the  Yonkers  bureau  of  municipal  research.     12  p. 
To  the  taxpayers  and  others  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  city  of 
Yonkers.    The  Yonkers  bureau  of  municipal  research,  inc.    The 
reason  for  its  formation,  its  purposes,  plan  and  scope  .  .  .  Yon- 
kers [I9I61   [2]  p. 

What   should   the  next  mayor  of  Yonkers   do?  .  .  .  October,   1917- 
Yonkers,  1917.    8  p. 

Indianapolis,  Ind. :  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research  of 
the  Indianapolis  Chamber  of  Commerce.  In  March,  1918. 
announcement  was  made  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Indianapolis  that  it  had  created  a  Bureau  of  Governmental 
Research  and  had  selected  Mr.  Robert  S.  Tracy  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  as  its  director.  Re- 
garding the  work  contemplated  for  this  bureau  the  announce- 
ment said : 

269 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

One  of  the  first  tasks  Mr.  Tracy  will  have  to  take  up  as 
head  of  the  new  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  will  be  to 
create  and  develop  a  muncipal,  statistical  and  information 
bureau,  in  order  that  all  city  officials  may  have  access  to  the 
latest,  most  comprehensive  information  available  about  their 
own  work,  and  city  problems  in  general. 

Sufficient  money  has  been  appropriated  by  the  Board  of 
Directors,  for  this  Bureau,  to  enable  Mr.  Tracy  to  call  in 
experts  in  various  lines  of  municipal  endeavor  to  assist  him 
in  solving  city  problems  calling  for  special  consideration. 

Mr.  Tracy's  work  will  be  that  of  helpful  cooperation  with 
city  officials,  and  it  is  hoped  and  believed  that  the  work  this 
Bureau  can  give  will  be  of  material  assistance  to  the  city 
administration  in  giving  to  Indianapolis  a  government  that 
will  be  as  effective  as  any  to  be  found  in  the  United  States. 

Columbus,  Ohio:  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  In  the 
spring  of  1915  a  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  was  created 
at  Columbus,  Ohio,  for  the  purpose  of  undertaking  certain 
investigations  preliminary  to  the  inauguration  of  the  new 
city  charter.  When  these  investigations  were  completed  it 
was  not  found  feasible  to  continue  the  work  of  the  bureau 
permanently  and  the  trustees,  therefore,  disbanded  in  the  win- 
ter of  1916.  The  bureau  never  employed  a  staff  of  its  own 
but  conducted  all  of  its  work  through  the  staff  of  the  Ohio 
Institute  for  Public  Efficiency.  All  of  its  reports  are  listed 
among  the  reports  of  the  latter  institution. 

Memphis,  Tenn. :  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  A  Bureau 
of  Municipal  Research  was  created  in  Memphis,  Tennessee, 
in  1909,  but  only  continued  in  operation  for  a  short  time, 
being  abolished  in  1910  or  1911.  During  this  time  it  pre- 
pared and  published  the  following  reports : 

PUBLICATIONS 

Memphis:  a  critical  study  of  some  phases  of  its  municipal  govern- 
ment with  constructive  suggestions  for  betterment  in  organiza- 
tion and  administrative  methods.  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research, 
Memphis,  October,  1909.  (Memphis,  Press  of  S.  C.  Toof  &  Co., 
1909.)  202  p.  tables  (partly  fold). 

Budget,  city  of  Memphis,  1910.  Prepared  for  the  Memphis  Bureau 
of  Municipal  Research  .  .  .  (Memphis,  E.  H.  Clarke  and  Bro. 
1910?)  25  p.  i  1. 

270 


AGENCIES  OF  PARTICULAR  CITIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

Story  of  the  Memphis  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research..    May,  1910. 
(Memphis,  S.  C.  Toof  &  Co.,  1910.)     16  p. 

Petersburg,  Va. :  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research.  In 
1917  a  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research  was  established  in 
Petersburg,  Virginia.  Due  to  lack  of  financial  support  and 
other  reasons  it  does  not  appear  that  much  work  was  accom- 
plished by  it.  Its  only  publication  is  the  one  listed  below. 

PUBLICATION 

Bulletin,  No.  I—  July  16,  1917— Petersburg,  Va.,  1917— 
Contents  : 

No.  I.     Graphic   argument    for    city    manager    government,    by 
Leroy  Hodges.    1917.     (folder) 


271 


CHAPTER  IX 

AGENCIES  TO  INVESTIGATE  THE  ADMINISTRA- 
TION OF  PARTICULAR  COUNTIES : 
UNOFFICIAL 

There  are  no  official  and  but  few  unofficial  agencies  for 
research  in  county  government.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  operations  of  few  counties  are  on  a  sufficient  scale  to  war- 
rant the  maintenance  of  a  special  agency  for  the  inves- 
tigation of  their  organization  and  methods  of  business.  This 
is  not  saying  that  it  is  not  extremely  desirable  that  the  work 
of  these  bodies  should  not  be  subjected  to  scientific  study. 
Any  one  who  has  had  any  familiarity  with  the  conduct  of 
county  affairs  in  the  United  States  knows  how  great  is  the 
room  for  improvement  in  their  organization  and  methods  of 
business.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  form  of  organization 
and  in  general  the  scope  of  the  work  of  all  counties  in  a  state 
are  so  nearly  identical,  it  would  seem  that  a  study  of  their 
administration  could  most  effectively  be  made  by  a  body  hav- 
ing state-wide  powers.  Notwithstanding  this,  special  county 
research  agencies  have  been  established  in  the  few  cases  de- 
scribed below. 

Westchester  County,  N.  Y.:  Research  Bureau.  In  1910 
something  over  one  hundred  citizens  and  taxpayers  of  West- 
Chester  County,  New  York,  established  what  is  known  as 
the  Westchester  County  Research  Bureau  with  the  objects  as 
stated  in  the  report  of  its  director: 

I.     To  Promote  Efficient,  Economical  Government : 

1.  By  the  collection  and  presentation  of  exact  in- 
formation  concerning  the  details   of   adminis- 
tration. 

2.  By  cooperation  with  the  administrative  authori- 
ties in  efforts  to  improve  the  public  service. 

272 


AGENCIES  OF  COUNTIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

3.     By  demonstrating  to  such  authorities  the  use 
and  advantage  of 

1 i )  Standardized  records  of  public  business. 

(2)  Standardized  purchase  and  distribution 
of  supplies. 

(3)  Standardized  units  of  public  service  and 
of  remuneration  therefor. 

(4)  In    general,    standardized    methods    of 
conducting  public  business. 

II.     To  Promote  the  Adoption  of  Scientific  Methods  of 
Accounting : 

1.  For  the  county. 

2.  For  the  cities,  where  such  methods  are  not  already 

in  use. 

3.  For  each  village — a  uniform  system  for  the  county. 

4.  For   each    township— a    uniform    system    for   the 
county. 

III.  To   Secure   Full   Publicity  of  the  Details  of   Public 

Business  Through  Complete  and  Scientific  Reports : 

1.  As  to  the  condition  of  the  public  estate. 

2.  As  to  the  efficiency  of  the  public  employees. 

3.  As  to  the  cost,  to  the  taxpayer,  of  any  department, 
function,  particular  operation,  or  detail  of  county 
or  local  municipal  administration. 

IV.  To  Prevent  Loss  of  Lives  or  of  Health  from  Pre- 

ventable Diseases : 

1.  By  showing  the  exact  statistics  of  such  losses. 

2.  By  demonstrating  the  economic  loss  to  the  com- 
munities from  such  causes. 

3.  By  cooperation  with  health  authorities  to  secure 
such  sanitation  and  correct  health  administration  as 
to  prevent  such  losses. 

V.     To  Devise  Remedial  Measures  for  Faults  Clearly  Re- 
vealed. 

VI.  To  Promote  Efficient  and  Economical  School  Admin- 
istration and  to  Secure  Full  Publicity  for  School 
Work  and  Achievements : 

1.  As  regards  the  sanitary  conditions  of  the  schools 
and  their  equipment,   and   sanitary  inspection   of 
pupils. 

2.  As  to  compliance  with  the  Education  Law,  and  as 
to  the  character  of  such  law. 

3.  As  to  the  retardation  or  advancement  of  pupils. 

273 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

4.  As  to  the  elimination  or  continuation  of  pupils. 
5.  As  to  economy  in  financial  outlay. 

VII.  To  Supply  Exact,  Full,  Verifiable  Information  and 
Data  to  Agencies  Organized  for  the  Betterment  of 
Civic  Conditions  in  any  Legitimate  and  Wholesome 
Way. 

The  bureau  is  incorporated  as  a  non-stock  membership 
corporation.  Its  officers  are  a  president,  a  vice-president,  a 
treasurer,  a  secretary  and  seven  directors.  The  secretary  is 
the  only  paid  officer.  Among  the  results  accomplished  by  the 
bureau  the  following  may  be  enumerated : 

In  1911  it  published  the  results  of  a  study  of  the  conditions 
governing  the  collecting  of  taxes  in  Westchester  County,  the 
methods  employed  in  making  such  collections  and  the  result- 
ant cost  to  the  taxpayers.  The  report  also  contained  sugges- 
tions for  changes  in  the  law  intended  to  increase  the  effi- 
ciency and  reduce  the  cost  of  tax  administration.  This  re- 
port has  been  an  important  factor  in  bringing  about  a  better 
tax  law,  which  it  is  alleged  saves  the  county  about  $50,000 
per  year. 

In  1912  the  bureau  published  two  bulletins  on  budget  mak- 
ing, namely,  a  comparison  of  county  budgets  for  a  period  of 
five  years  and  pointing  out  what  a  budget  should  reveal,  and 
a  report  on  Making  the  County  Budget,  which  was  designed 
to  show  how  a  scientific  budget  may  be  prepared,  the  form 
in  which  it  may  be  made  public,  and  the  methods  by  which 
the  opinions  of  the  people  may  be  placed  before  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  for  its  guidance  in  the  adoption  of  its  annual 
program  of  community  service. 

This  report  it  is  claimed  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  a  bet- 
ter budget  system,  effecting  a  saving  estimated  at  about  $125,- 
ooo  per  year. 

In  1912  a  study  was  made  of  "the  purchase  of  county  sup- 
plies and  the  audit  of  county  claims."  The  report  of  this 
study  was  made  to  the  Board  of  County  Supervisors  of  West- 
Chester  County  and  pointed  out  the  wastefulness  of  the  pres- 
ent system.  This  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  a  new  pur- 
chasing department  which  it  is  stated  effected  an  estimated 
saving  of  about  $10,000  per  year. 

274 


AGENCIES  OF  COUNTIES:  UNOFFICIAL 

In  1914  certain  facts  were  prepared  by  the  bureau  con- 
cerning the  county  printing  expenses,  which  were  presented 
as  evidence  before  the  Grand  Jury.  As  a  result  of  the  sub- 
sequent action  of  the  Grand  Jury  the  special  laws  on  public 
printing  were  repealed  resulting  in  an  estimated  saving  of 
$25,000  per  year  to  the  county. 

As  a  further  result  of  the  bureau's  activities,  the  office  of 
county  comptroller  was  created,  and  this  officer,  it  is  esti- 
mated, saves  the  county  about  $30,000  per  year. 

A  more  recent  report  of  the  bureau  (September  i,  1916) 
deals  with  the  Westchester  County  Building  Commission  and 
its  work  and  points  out  the  advantage,  of  the  present  system, 
that  is,  a  commission  of  three  members  as  compared  with  the 
work  as  formerly  handled  by  the  larger  board  of  supervisors. 

Many  local  investigations  have  led  to  better  methods  and 
economies.  Such  studies  have  been  made  in  eight  localities 
in  the  county. 

The  bureau  has  been  called  upon  from  time  to  time  to 
cooperate  in  the  preparation  of  schedules  for  investigation  by 
various  committees  and  to  aid  fiscal  officers  of  some  of  the 
municipal  corporations  of  the  county  in  the  installation  of 
modern  accounting  systems  and  the  improvement  of  existing 
methods. 

The  bureau  has  made  many  recommendations  to  the  heads 
of  departments  of  county  and  local  governments,  both  as  to 
the  location  and  elimination  of  governmental  waste,  and  as 
to  the  establishment  of  efficiency  and  the  installation  of  sci- 
entific methods.  Many  of  its  recommendations  have  been 
adopted.  It  has  aimed  whenever  possible  to  criticise  not  work 
but  methods,  and  has  endeavored  never  to  find  fault  without 
providing  a  constructive  remedy.  It  has  endeavored  to  place 
at  the  service  of  officials  the  work  of  skilled  experts,  and  its 
guiding  principle  has  been  to  cooperate  with  organized  gov- 
ernment. 

PUBLICATIONS 

The  Westchester  County  research  bureau  .  .  .   [I9IO1    [4]   P- 
Method  and  cost  of  collecting  taxes  in  Westchester  County.     1911. 
71   p.      [Document  on  county  government  collected  by  the  Na- 
tional short  ballot  organization.] 
The   purchase  of   county  supplies  and   the  audit  of  county  claims. 

275 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Report  made  to  the  Board  of  supervisors  of  Westchester  county 

.  .  .  1912.     16  p. 

Efficiency  series,  Bulletin  No.  I — I9i2(?)  — 
Contents. 

No.  2.     Making  the  county  budget.     1912.     20  p. 
A  brief  report  on  the  organization,  activities,  and  achievements  of 

the  Westchester  County  research  bureau,  1910-1913.    [1914]  15  p. 
County  printing  expenses  .  .  .  1914.    23  p. 
The    Westchester    County    research    bureau.     A    record    of    service 

and  an  extraordinary  opportunity.     1915?    8  p. 
The  Westchester  County  research  bureau.     What  is  its  work?     For 

whom  does  it  work?    Why  is  it  needed?    1916  (folder). 
Westchester   County  building  commission.     Report  of  its  work   as 

at  September  i,  1916. 

Alameda  County,  Cal.  Tax  Association.  The  Tax  Asso- 
ciation of  Alameda  County  is  an  association  of  taxpayers  of 
Oakland,  Alameda,  Berkeley,  Piedmont,  Emeryville,  Niles, 
San  Leandro  and  Livermore,  in  Alameda  County,  Califor- 
nia, the  object  of  which  is  declared  to  be:  "To  correct  ex- 
isting evils  and  inequalities  in  taxation;  promote  economy  in 
public  expenditures,  both  state  and  local;  and  to  formulate 
and  announce  the  most  progressive  economic  thought  and  ad- 
ministrative experience  available  for  the  correct  guidance  of 
public  opinion,  legislative  and  administrative  action  on  all 
questions  pertaining  to  state  and  local  taxation." 

Its  governing  body  consists  of  its  officers  and  an  executive 
committee  of  twenty-two  members,  with  standing  committees 
on  law,  campaign,  finance  and  organization  and  membership. 

Among  the  recent  activities  reported  by  the  association  are : 
A  survey  of  the  organization,  business  management,  revenues 
and  expenditures  of  the  school  department  of  Oakland;  and 
a  survey  of  the  auditor's  office  of  Oakland  with  reference 
to  its  operation  under  a  new  accounting  system  recently  in- 
stalled on  its  recommendation.  The  association  is  now  en- 
gaged in  an  effort  to  secure  the  adoption  of  a  proposed  char- 
ter under  which  the  cities  of  the  county  may  federate,  and 
under  which  it  is  expected  that  unnecessary  duplicating  of  of- 
ficials may  be  eliminated  and  the  people  provided  with  better 
and  more  service  at  a  lower  cost.  The  system  contemplates 
a  system  of  boroughs  whereby  each  city  retains  its  present 
identity  and  independence,  fixes  its  own  tax  rates  and  also 
controls  borough  expenditures.  An  idea  of  the  other  activi- 

276 


AGENCIES  OF  COUNTIES :  UNOFFICIAL 

ties  of  the  association  may  be  obtained  from  an  examination 
of  the  appended  list  of  its  publications. 


PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.  1-8.     Oakland,  1911-1913. 

No.     i.     Organization  and  objects  of  tax  association. 

No.    2.     Office  of  county  recorder. 

No.  3.  Emergency  hospital  and  detention  home  and  care  of 
indigents. 

No.     4.     County  infirmary  and  infirmary  hospital. 

No.  5.  Registration  as  conducted  by  the  County  clerk  of  Ala- 
meda  County. 

No.  6.  Analysis  of  recall  petition.  Standardizing  the  account- 
ing system. 

No.  7.  Suggestions  for  consideration  in  preparing  a  charter 
for  Alameda  County. 

No.  8.  Coroner's  Office;  and  the  creation  of  an  extra  depart- 
ment of  the  Supreme  Court. 

Continued  by  its  Report  No.  9 — 

No.    9.     The  Alameda  County  plan. 

No.  10.  Section  A.  Cost  of  elections  in  1910. 
Section  B.  Cost  of  elections  in  1912. 
Section  C.  Cost  of  city  elections. 

No.  ii.     The  Municipal  auditorium  of  the  City  of  Oakland,  Cal. 

No.  12.     Efficiency  in  municipal  and  county  government. 

No.  13.  Central  purchasing  agency  for  Alameda  County  and 
its  cities. 

No.  14.  Facts  which  justify  the  existence  of  the  Tax  Asso- 
sociation. 

No.  15.  How  the  supervisors  and  the  Tax  association  saved 
$36,310.85  on  the  1914  primary. 

No.  16.  Increasing  per  capita  cost  of  state,  county  and  munici- 
pal government. 

No.  17.     Not  printed  (  ?) 

No.  18.     Summary  of  proposed  amendments  to  Oakland  charter. 

No.  19.     School  department  of  Oakland. 

No.  20.     Survey  of  the  auditor's  office,  city  of  Oakland. 

No.  21.  Some  of  the  benefits  that  would  accrue  under  a  city 
and  county  charter. 

No.  22.  Sharpening  the  instruments  of  government.  (A  plea 
for  the  appointment  of  a  general  manager  for  pub- 
lic business.) 

No.  23.  Clipping  the  wings  of  extravagance.  (A  tabular  state- 
ment of  the  cost  of  a  special  election  in  each  county 
of  California,  illustrating  savings  effected  through 
efficiency.) 

No.  24.     As  others  see  us. 

Tax  association  bulletin  Jan.,  1913,  No.  i — Oakland,  1913. 
Centralized  government  for  Alameda  County  and  its  cities. 

277 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

City  and  county — centralized  government  for  Alameda  County  and 

its  cities.     1916.     10  p. 
City  and   county — summary  of  a   charter   for   a   federated   city   and 

county  government  for  Alameda   County   and  its  cities.     1916. 

20  p. 
City  and   county — organization  chart — city   and  county  government 

set  up.     I  p. 

Hudson  County,  N.  J. :  Citizens  Federation.  The  Citizens 
Federation  of  Hudson  County  is  an  organization  of  citizens, 
taxpayers  and  business  men  of  Hudson  County,  New  Jersey. 
It  is  supported  by  the  dues  of  its  members.  Its  governing 
body  is  a  board  of  twenty-five  trustees. 

The  objects  of  the  federation  as  shown  in  a  printed  state- 
ment are:  "To  examine  into  public  affairs  and  the  conduct 
of  officials  throughout  the  County,  making  known  the  result  of 
such  examinations  when  deemed  necessary  for  the  public  good  ; 
to  endeavor  to  the  extent  of  its  power  to  effect  the  betterment 
of  governmental  conditions  throughout  the  County  by  co- 
operation with  officials  or  otherwise ;  to  promote  and  endeavor 
to  secure  the  selection  of  properly  qualified  individuals  as 
public  officials ;  to  aid  in  the  prosecution  of  officials  and  others 
taking  part  in  frauds  upon  the  public,  and  to  urge  the  enact- 
ment of  laws  which  shall  prevent  fraud  and  tend  to  economi- 
cal, simple  and  efficient  administration;  to  endeavor  to  secure 
equal  taxation  upon  the  basis  of  the  true  value  of  ratables; 
to  urge  needed  public  improvements  when  the  financial  con- 
dition of  the  County  warrants  the  same;  and  to  watch  legis- 
lation whereby  anything  inimical  to  the  objects  above  ex- 
pressed may  be  defeated,  and  to  suggest  and  aid  in  the  se- 
curing of  such  legislation  as  will  best  promote  such  objects." 

PUBLICATIONS 

[Circular]   .  .  .  October,  1912.     [Jersey  City?  1912]     [8]  p. 
Comparisons  of  appropriations  and  salaries  .  .  .  January,  1913.     24 

p.  diagrs. 
Citizens  bulletin.     [Jersey  City,  19 — ] 

Issued  monthly.     No.  6,  July  25,  1913,  issued  by  Jersey  City  com- 
mittee, Citizens  federation  of  Hudson  County. 


278 


PART   II 

ORGANS  OF  CENTRAL  ADMINISTRATIVE 
CONTROL 


PART  II 

ORGANS  OF  CENTRAL  ADMINISTRATIVE 
CONTROL 

In  the  preceding  part  we  have  considered  the  work  of 
official  bodies  which  have  been  created  by  the  national  gov- 
ernment and  by  various  states  and  cities  for  the  purpose  of 
investigating  governmental  conditions  with  a  view  \to  formu- 
lating recommendations  for  their  improvement.  \The  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  these  bodies  is  the  fact  that  they  have 
had  only  investigatory  and  recommendatory  powers./  It  is 
now  our  purpose  to  consider  the  organization  and  work  of 
another  class  of  official  agencies  which,  while  having  for  their 
end  the  same  purpose  as  those  already  treated,  namely,  the 
improvement  of  methods  of  public  administration,  differ  radi- 
cally from  these  bodies  in  that,  in  addition  to  having  large 
investigatory  and  recommendatory  powers,  they  possess  direct 
administrative  authority  of  an  important  character. 

In  not  a  few  of  our  governmental  organizations  there 
exists  but  little  administrative  authority  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  major  changes  of  organization  and  procedure.  Stat- 
ute, constitution,  charter  and  ordinance  render  impotent  the 
judgment  of  the  chief  executive  authority.  But  even  where 
these  limitations  do  not  exist  and  where  the  right  of  the  execu- 
tive to  mold  organization  and  procedure  receives  full  recogni- 
tion, there  is  seldom  provided  any  specific  organ  through  which 
the  executive  may  effectively  make  use  of  his  power.  The 
need  for  such  an  organ  is  not  satisfied  by  the  creation  of  re- 
search agencies,  having  powers  of  recommendation  only,  of 
the  type  described  in  the  preceding  part  of  this  volume.  Use- 
ful as  such  agencies  are,  the  necessity  under  which  they  labor, 
of  appearing  before  the  executive  in  the  role  of  plaintiff  with 
the  department  under  investigation  as  defendant,  and  of  over- 
bearing the  opposition  which  that  department  is  so  likely  to 

281 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

set  up  against  any  proposals  for  change,  has  been  and  must 
continue  to  be  a  serious  limitation  upon  their  effectiveness. 
Only  by  the  creation  of  an  agency  possessing  a  status  superior 
to  that  of  the  several  departments,  can  the  full  possibili- 
ties of  the  central  control  over  administration  be  realized. 
\Such  an  agency  must  either  itself  have  the  legal  power  of 
giving  effect  to  its  own  recommendations,  or  its  moral  position 
in  the  administration,  so  to  speak,  must  be  such  that  its  recom- 
mendations have  the  effect  of  orders  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
events.  \ 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  need  for  this  type  of  organ 
of  administrative  control  varies  directly  with  the  magnitude 
of  the  organization.  The  outstanding  need  for  such  an  organ 
in  the  national  government  has  been  set  forth  in  full  in  an- 
other place.1  Here  there  is  given  an  account  of  the  agencies 
which  have  already  been  created  by  some  of  the  states  and 
cities. 

'Chapter  II  of  The  Problem  of  a  National  Budget,  by  W.  F. 
Willoughby,  published  by  the  Institute  for  Government  Research, 
1918. 


282 


CHAPTER  X 

ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL  IN 
THE  STATES 

The  services  and  institutions  for  whose  administration 
state  governments  are  responsible  fall  into  three  main  classes  : 
(i)  subordinate  political  divisions  such  as  municipalities, 
counties  and  the  like;  (2)  state  institutions;  that  is,  institu- 
tions of  a  charitable  or  educational  character,  which,  while 
more  or  less  under  private  management,  yet  receive  large 
sums  for  their  support  from  the  public  treasury  and  are  sub- 
ject to  special  laws;  and  (3)  services  proper  of  the  state 
government. 

For  the  administration  of  all  three  of  these  classes  of  in- 
stitutions the  state  is  responsible.  For  years,  however,  the 
states  possessed  no  organs  through  which  they  might  effec- 
tively exercise  that  direction,  supervision  and  control  over 
these  institutions  which  was  imperative  if  efficiency  in  opera- 
tion was  to  be  secured.  One  of  the  most  encouraging  features 
of  the  modern  movement  for  improving  methods  of  public 
administration  is  the  extent  to  which  this  lack  has,  in  recent 
years,  been  recognized  and  central  organs  of  administrative 
control  have  been  created  by  the  states.  These  organs  have 
been  of  three  kinds,  corresponding  to  the  three  classes  of  serv- 
ices and  institutions  mentioned.  Special  services  have  been 
created  or  existing  state  officers  have  been  empowered  to 
prescribe  uniform  systems  of  accounting  and  reporting  and 
otherwise  to  exercise  control  over  subordinate  political  sub- 
divisions. Boards  of  control  have  been  established  to  exercise 
a  general  direction,  supervision  and  control  over  state 
charitable  and  other  institutions.  And,  finally,  central  serv- 
ices have  been  created  to  exercise  a  general  control  and  super- 
vision over  the  administrative  departments,  properly  speak- 
ing, of  the  state  government. 

283 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

The  special  character  of  the  organs  of  the  first  two  kinds 
does  not  bring  them  within  the  scope  of  the  present  work. 
The  third,  that  of  organs  of  general  administration,  rep- 
resents, however,  one  of  the  most  important  examples  of  or- 
ganized efforts  for  the  improvement  of  methods  of  public 
administration  with  which  we  have  to  deal.  These  organs 
are  variously  designated.  In  California,  the  designation, 
"State  Board  of  Control"  is  employed;  but  this  should  not 
lead  to  the  confusion  of  this  organ  with  similarly  designated 
boards  in  other  states  having  for  their  purpose  the  control  of 
state  institutions. 

The  movement  for  the  establishment  of  state  organs  of 
this  character  is  of  very  recent  date,  and  is  intimately  related 
to  the  movement  for  budgetary  reform.  Experience  has  dem- 
onstrated that  if  an  efficient  budgetary  system  is  to  be  estab- 
lished it  is  imperative  that  the  state  shall  have  a  central  organ 
for  the  performance  of  the  work  of  receiving  estimates, 
making  investigations  regarding  the  organization,  work, 
methods  and  needs  of  the  several  services  and  institutions 
submitting  them,  and,  on  the  basis  of  the  information  so 
obtained,  of  formulating  the  budget  to  be  submitted  by  the 
Governor  to  the  legislature.  The  two  reforms  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  budget  system  and  the  creation  of  a  central 
organ  of  general  administration  have  thus  had  to  go  hand  in 
hand.  Due  to  this  close  relation  between  the  two,  the  or- 
ganization and  work  of  organs  of  general  administration  have 
necessarily  been  treated  at  some  length  in  the  volume  on 
The  Movement  for  Budgetary  Reform  in  the  States,  pub- 
lished by  the  Institute  for  Government  Research.  In  the 
account  of  these  organs  that  follows,  we  will,  therefore,  draw 
largely  upon  the  data  there  presented. 


California:  State  Board  of  Control.  In  his  message  to  the 
legislature  on  January  8,  1911,  Governor  Hiram  Johnson,  of 
California,  called  attention  to  the  absence  of  any  adequate 
means  for  the  exercise  of  effective  control  over  the  manner  in 
which  the  services  and  institutions  of  the  state  were  being  ad- 
ministered. Impressed  by  this  showing  the  legislature,  by 
an  act  approved  April  3,  1911,  provided  for  the  creation  of 

284 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

a  body  known  as  State  Board  of  Control  that  is  in  many  re- 
spects the  most  important  and  interesting  organ  of  general 
administration  that  has  been  established  by  any  state.1 

This  act  provides  that  the  State  Board  of  Control  created? 
by  it  shall  consist  of  three  salaried  members,  to  be  appointed 
by  the  Governor  and  to  hold  office  at  his  pleasure,  who  shall 
devote  their  entire  time  to  the  duties  of  their  office.  As  de- 
fined by  the  act,  the  duties  of  this  board  are :  ( i )  to  examine 
annually  and  report  upon  the  books  of  state  hospitals,  reform- 
atories and  other  institutions,  commissions,  bureaus  and  offices 
of  the  state;  (2)  to  visit  all  public  institutions  maintained  in 
whole  or  in  part  by  state  appropriations,  to  ascertain  their 
condition  and  needs,  and  to  visit  public  buildings  in  course 
of  construction  to  see  that  'they  are  being  erected  in  con- 
formity with  the  provisions  of  law;  (3)  to  scrutinize  and 
report  upon  claims  against  the  state;  (4)  to  count  the  money 
in  the  state  treasury  at  least  once  a  month;  (5)  to  supervise 
the  issuance  of  bonds  by  local  governing  bodies  of  the  state; 
(6)  with  consent  of  the  Governor,  to  authorize  the  creation 
of  deficiencies  in  appropriations  made  by  law,  in  cases  of  actual 
necessity;  (7)  to  exercise  general  "powers  of  supervision  over 
all  matters  concerning  the  financial  and  business  policies  of 
the  State,"  and  when  it  deems  proper,  or  at  the  instance  of 
the  Governor,  to  institute  investigations  into  the  same;  (8)  to 
approve  contracts  entered  into  by  state  officials  or  organs, 
which  before  being  entered  into  must  be  submitted  to  it  for 
approval. 

In  connection  with  and  under  the  supervision  of  the  Board 
of  Control  the  act  also  provided  for  a  Department  of  Public 
Accounting  whose  function  is  defined  to  be  to  "devise,  install 
and  supervise  a  uniform  system  of  accounting  and  reporting 
for  any  and  all  officers  or  persons  in  this  State  permitted  or 
charged  by  law  with  the  keeping  of  public  accounts  and  records, 
and  the  custody,  control  and  handling  of  public  money  or  its 
equivalent,  to  the  end  that  there  shall  be  obtained  similar 
and  comparable  data  for  every  public  office  and  every  public 
account  of  the  same  class,  and  that  there  shall  be  a  general, 

California,  Acts,  1911,  Ch.  349. 

285 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

systematic  and  uniform  check  upon  the  receipt  and  disburse- 
ment of  all  public  revenue." 

This  department,  as  well  as  the  Board  of  Control,  is 
granted  adequate  authority  to  take  testimony,  compel  the 
production  of  papers,  and  other  inquisitorial  powers.  The 
board  is  directed  to  report  biennially  to  the  legislature  "a  his- 
tory of  its  transactions  and  investigations." 

The  important  function  of  the  board,  thus  established,  in 
making  possible  the  preparation  of  a  proper  budgetary  docu- 
ment for  submission  by  the  Governor  to  the  legislature  is  de- 
scribed in  the  volume  entitled  The  Movement  for  Budgetary 
Reform  in  the  States,  and  need  not  be  here  rehearsed.  The 
following  statement  taken  from  that  volume,  regarding  the 
general  status  and  functions  of  the  board,  however,  deserve 
quotation : 

In  its  State  Board  of  Control,  created  in  1911,  California 
has  an  organ,  which,  as  stated  by  the  Governor  of  the  State, 
has  plenary  powers  over  the  business  and  financial  affairs  of 
the  State.  It  moreover  has  a  status  and  personnel  independent 
of,  and,  as  regards  the  powers  to  prescribe  methods  of  business 
procedure,  superior  to,  the  administrative  or  operating  de- 
partments properly  speaking.  .  .  .  This  body  thus  con- 
stitutes an  organ  of  general  administration  comparable  in 
character  to  the  British  Treasury.  Its  function  as  an  organ 
for  preparing  the  budget  to  be  submitted  to  the  legislature  is 
thus  but  an  integral  part  of  the  general  function  as  a  service 
of  overhead  administration. 

Testifying  to  the  results  obtained  after  six  years  of  oper- 
ation, the  Governor  in  his  1917  message  said: 

During  the  past  six  years,' California  has  demonstrated 
that  public  business  can  be  conducted  as  honestly  and  as  effi- 
ciently as  private  business.  ...  It  seems  incredible  now, 
that  prior  to  1911  there  had  not  been  for  many,  many 
years  a  state  audit ;  that  there  was  no  centralized  control  over 
the  business  conducted  by  the  state,  no  mode  of  accurately 
determining  the  necessity  and  amount  of  appropriations,  and 
no  supervision  which  would  preclude  favoritism  in  bidding. 
.  .  .  The  legislature  of  1911,  therefore,  passed  the  law 
creating  the  State  Board  of  Control  and  gave  to  that  board 

286 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

plenary  powers  over  the  business  and  financial  affairs  of  the 
state.  .  .  .  Investigations  at  once  were  held  by  the  board, 
and  corruption  and  fraud  in  the  business  of  the  state  un- 
covered. Ruthlessly  the  old  methods  were  destroyed  and 
the  individuals  who  were  guilty  were  removed  from  the 
service  of  the  state.  But  the  great  work  of  the  board  was  to 
systematize  the  business  of  California  in  such  way  that  it 
might  challenge  comparison  with  the  system  in  vogue  in  those 
great  business  concerns  that  are  models  of  commercial  enter- 
prise. .  .  .  The  old  log-rolling  methods,  inefficiency,  fraud, 
corruption  and  political  control  have  been  displaced  by 
a  budget  system,  a  searching  financial  supervision,  modern 
business  methods,  economy  and  efficiency.  .  .  .  The  business 
of  the  State  of  California  is  now  conducted  upon  approved 
modern  lines  and  conducted  as  efficiently  and  as  economically 
as  any  systematic  and  scientifically  managed  private  enterprise. 

The  appended  list  of  publications  of  the  Board  of  Control 
sufficiently  indicates  the  extent  and  character  of  its  activities. 
In  its  biennial  reports,  the  board,  as  directed  by  law,  gives  an 
account  of  the  various  investigations  undertaken  by  it. 

PUBLICATIONS 

First  biennial  report  of  the  State  board  of  control  of  California 
covering  period  from  Dec.  3,  1910,  to  Dec.  6,  1912.  Sacramento, 
1913.  138  p. 

Budget  covering  appropriations.     1914.    57  p. 

Classification  instructions  for  making  property  returns  on  inventory 
forms.  Nos.  I,  2  and  3.  Effective  Dec.  I,  1915.  [Annual]. 

Financial  statement  of  the  government  of  the  state  of  California  for 
the  sixty-seventh  and  sixty-eighth  fiscal  years  (July  I,  1915, 
to  June  30,  1917),  showing  all  sources  of  state  taxes  and  all 
appropriations  and  fixed  charges  for  the  support  of  the  state 
government  and  its  institutions  .  .  .  [Sacramento?  1915?]  9  p. 

Report  of  the  State  board  of  control  covering  appropriations  needed 
by  state  departments  and  institutions  for  the  sixty-fifth  and 
sixty-sixth  fiscal  years  [1913-1915]  with  supplemental  recom- 
mendations .  .  .  Sacramento,  1912.  43  p. 

for  the  sixty-seventh  and  sixty-eighth  fiscal  years  [1915-1917]. 

Sacramento,  1914.  51  p. 

for  the  sixty-ninth  and  seventieth  fiscal  years  [1917-1919]. 

Sacramento,  1916.  63  p. 

Pamphlet  of  procedure  governing  the  preparation  and  presentation 
of  estimates  and  the  presentation  and  audit  of  claims.  1916.  14  p. 

Rules  governing:  the  presentation  and  audit  of  demands  against  state 
funds  and  appropriations.  1917.  16  p. 

287 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Statement  of  John  Francis  Neylan,  chairman,  State  board  of  con- 
trol, to  Finance  committee  of  Senate  and  Ways  and  means  com- 
mittee of  Assembly,  on  condition  of  Treasury  of  state  of  Cali- 
fornia. 1917.  8  p. 

Accounting  procedure  for  uniform  system  of  county  accounts.  De- 
partment of  public  accounting,  State  board  of  control.  [1918?] 
various  paging,  forms. 

Wisconsin:  State  Board  of  Public  Affairs.  In  the  same 
year,  1911,  that  California  provided  for  its  State  Board  of 
Control,  Wisconsin  provided  for  a  somewhat  similar  body 
under  the  name  of  State  Board  of  Public  Affairs.  This  body, 
however,  was  given  quite  a  different  composition  from  that 
of  the  California  board.  The  latter,  it  will  be  remembered,  is 
composed  of  three  appointees  of  the  Governor  having  no  other 
official  duties.  The  Wisconsin  board  was  made  to  consist  of 
the  Governor  as  chairman,  the  secretary  of  state,  the  chairman 
of  finance  committees  of  the  two  houses  of  the  legislature  and 
two  other  members  to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate.  That  the  activities 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  or  at  least  of  certain  of  the 
members  of  its  faculty,  in  respect  to  governmental  matters 
were  resented  by  the  legislature  is  shown  by  the  odd  provision 
that  the  appointed  members  should  not  be  members  of  the 
faculty  of  that  institution.  By  a  statute  passed  in  1913,  the 
membership  of  the  board  was  increased  by  adding  to  it  the 
President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate,  the  Speaker  of  the  As- 
sembly, and  a  third  appointed  member,  and  certain  other 
changes  were  introduced.  Since  then  the  act  has  been 
amended  on  several  occasions.1 

According  to  this  act,  as  originally  passed  and  as  amended 
in  1913,  the  board  had  the  powers  only  of  taking  steps  looking 
to  the  formulation  of  the  estimates  according  to  a  uniform 
plan  and  of  compiling  and  submitting  the  estimates  as  re- 
ceived by  it.  In  1915  the  act  was  so  amended,  however,  as 
not  only  to  confer  upon  the  board  the  duty  of  submitting  its 
recommendations  in  respect  to  appropriations  needed  but  of 
acting  as  a  general  administrative  board  to  prescribe  methods 
looking  to  the  efficient  conduct  of  public  affairs.  Thus,  after 

JFor  a  copy  of  the  act  as  amended  see,  The  Movement  for 
Budgetary  Reform  in  the  States. 

288 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

conferring  full  powers  upon  the  board  to  make  inquiries  re- 
garding the  organization  and  methods  of  work  of  all  state 
departments  and  institutions,  the  act  provides  that: 

1 i )  The  board  shall  have  such  supervision  of  every  public 
body  as  is  necessary  to  secure  uniformity  and  accuracy  of 
accounts.    It  may  inquire  into  the  methods  of  conducting  the 
affairs  of  any  public  body ;  it  may  prescribe  and  direct  the  use 
of  such  forms  of  accounts  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  out  the 
purposes  of  this  chapter;  it  may  prescribe  and  direct  the  use 
of  standards  and  records  of  efficiency  of  employees;  it  shall 
inaugurate,  supervise  and  conduct  adequate  systems  of  ex- 
amination and  inspection  of  accounts  of  every  such  public 
body,  it  may  cause  to  be  prepared  suitable  blanks,  books  and 
records  for  carrying  out  the  purposes  of  this  chapter;  and 
shall,  when  necessary,  furnish  such  blanks  and  records  to  any 
such  public  body,  provided,  that  when  the  expense  of  such 
blanks,  books  or  records  has  been  charged  against  the  appro- 
priation for  the  board  of  public  affairs  the  secretary  of  state 
shall  charge  the  cost  of  supplies  so  furnished  against  the  gen- 
eral appropriation  account  of  the  public  body  receiving  the 
same  and  shall  credit  the  appropriation  of  the  board  of  public 
affairs  with  a  like  amount. 

(2)  The  board  shall  devise  for  all  public  bodies  uniform 
systems  of  accounts  and  uniform  accounting  procedures  ade- 
quate to  record  in  detail  all  transactions  affecting  the  acquisi- 
tion, custodianship  and  disposition  of  values,  including  cash 
receipts  and  disbursements,  and  every  such  public  body  shall 
keep  its  accounts  and  maintain  its  accounting  procedure  accu- 
rately and  faithfully  as  prescribed  and  directed  by  the  board. 

Following  this  the  board  is  specifically  entrusted  with  the 
duty  of  formulating  and  submitting  to  the  legislature  a  budget 
with  supporting  documents. 

Among  the  reports  of  this  board  special  mention  might 
be  made  of  the  volume  on  The  Budget,  prepared  for  the 
board  by  S.  Gale  Lowrie,  since  it  represents  one  of  the  earliest 
comprehensive  studies  of  this  important  subject 


289 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

PUBLICATIONS 

The  budget,  by  S.  Gale  Lowrie.  Madison,  Wis.  Democrat  printing 
company,  state  printer,  1912.  259  p. 

At  head  of  title:  Wisconsin  State  board  of  public  affairs. 
A  plan  for  a  cooperative  neighborhood;  prepared  and  presented  to 
the  State  board  of  public  affairs,  by  Albert  L.  Williams.    Madi- 
son, 1912.     18  p. 

Report  on  agricultural  settlement  and  farm  ownership.    Pt.  I — Madi- 
son (Democrat  printing  company,  state  printer).     1912 — 
Contents. 

Pt.  I.     State  loans  to  farmers,  by  W.  M.  Duffus.     1912. 
Report  upon  cooperation  and  marketing.     Madison,  Wis.,  Democrat 
printing  company,  state  printer,  1912 — 
Contents. 

Pt.      I.     Agricultural  cooperation,  by  J.  F.  Sinclair.     1912. 
Pt.  III.     Municipal  markets,  by  J.  F.  Sinclair  [and]  C.  Hallam. 

1912. 
Pt.    IV.     Distributive   or   store   cooperation,   by   J.   F.   Sinclair. 

1912. 

The  public  money,  where  it  comes  from,  where  it  goes.  A  statement 
of  the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  state  and  local  govern- 
ments, prepared  by  the  Wisconsin  tax  commission  and  issued  by 
the  State  board  of  public  affairs  .  .  .  Madison,  Wis.,  1914.  51  p. 
incl.  tables,  charts. 

Conditions  and  needs  of  Wisconsin's  normal  schools.  Report  of  co- 
operative survey,  by  A.  N.  Farmer,  director  .  .  .  [1915]  653  p. 
front.,  fold,  maps,  fold,  tab.,  diagrs. 

Survey  summary  re  University  of  Wisconsin,  containing  the  portion 
thus  far  released  by  the  State  board  of  public  affairs  as  sub- 
mitted December  i    1914,  by  William  H.  Allen,  director.    Madi- 
son, Wis.,  Wisconsin  efficiency  bureau,  1915.     107  p. 
Contents. 

I.     Scope  and  method  of  the  survey. 
II.     What  its  university  means  to  Wisconsin. 
III.     Earmarks  of  efficiency  and  progress. 
IV.     Opportunities  for  increasing  efficiency. 

Report  upon  the  survey  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin;  findings  of 
the  State  board  of  public  affairs  and  its  report  to  the  Legislature 
.  .  .  Madison,  Wis.  [1915]  xi,  957  p.  forms,  tables,  chart, 

maps. 

Appendices:  W.  H.  Allen's  report  to  the  board,  E.  C.  Branson's 
report  to  the  board,  comment  by  committee  of  University  fac- 
ulty upon  report  of  investigators. 

Wisconsin  state  budget,  showing  actual  receipts  and  disbursements 

for  1913-1914,  1914-1915,  and  1915-1916,  and  estimated  receipts 

and  disbursements  for  1916-1917,  1917-1918,  and  1918-1919.  Comp. 

for  the  use  of   the   Legislature,    1917,  by  the  Wisconsin   State 

board  of  public  affairs,  December   I,   1916.     344  p. 

In  pocket:     "Recommendations  of  the   Board   of  public  affairs 

on  the  budgets  of  the  boards,  departments,  and  commissions, 

as  submitted   for  the  consideration  of  the   1917  Legislature." 

(22   P.) 

29O 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

Miscellaneous 

(Complete  titles  unknown:    Not  known  whether  printed  or  type- 
written) 

Investigation  of  efficiency  and  cost  of  state  printing. 

Investigation  of  feasibility  of  a  central  board  of  control  for  all  public 

educational  institutions. 
Report  submitted  to  the  Civil  service  commission  on  departmental 

organization  and  efficiency  of  state  employees. 
State  receipts  and  expenditures,  1903-1914. 
Survey  of  the  High  schools. 

Massachusetts:  Supervisor  of  Administration.  Elsewhere 
in  this  volume  an  account  has  been  given  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Economy  and  Efficiency  Commission,  created  in  1912. 
By  act  of  June  i,  19 16,1  this  commission  was  abolished  and 
its  powers  and  duties  transferred  together  with  those  of  the 
Board  of  Publication,  a  body  created  in  1902,  to  a  new  office 
created  by  the  act  known  as  office  of  Supervisor  of  Adminis- 
tration. The  statute  authorizes  the  Governor,  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  council,  to  appoint  the  supervisor  at  a 
salary  of  $5,000  for  a  term  of  three  years.  The  supervisor  is 
authorized  to  appoint  a  deputy  or  deputies,  with  the  consent 
of  the  Governor  and  council  and  to  appoint  a  secretary,  ex- 
perts, clerks  and  other  assistants,  subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  committee  on  finance  of  the  council,  which  is  made  "a 
board  of  advisers  of  the  supervisor." 

Due  to  the  fact  that  this  office  took  over  the  powers  and 
duties  of  prior  existing  authorities,  it  is  necessary  to  refer 
to  a  number  of  acts  to  determine  the  scope  of  its  functions. 
Fortunately,  however,  the  supervisor  in  his  first  annual  report 
has  made  an  exceptionally  clear  statement  of  both  the  general 
functions  of  his  office  and  the  specific  duties  with  which  he 
is  charged.  His  statement  follows: 

The  office  of  Supervisor  of  Administration  is  a  staff 
agency  for  exercising  supervision  over  certain  activities  of 
State  departments,  and  for  conducting  investigations  and 
studies  into  the  organization  and  business  methods  of  the 
State  government.  The  work  is  to  be  performed  for,  and  all 
reports  and  recommendations  are  to  be  rendered  to,  the  Gov- 

'Massachusetts,  Acts,  1916,  Ch.  296. 

291 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ernor,  Council  and  General  Court.  Some  of  the  activities 
are  undertaken  on  request  of  the  Governor,  Council  or  Legis- 
lature, and  other  activities  are  conducted  on  the  initiative  of 
the  Supervisor,  acting  under  authority  vested  in  him  by  statute. 
The  authority  of  the  office  to  conduct  investigations  and 
studies  extends  to  'every  officer  or  board  having  charge  of  any 
department,  institution  or  undertaking  which  receives  an  an- 
nual appropriation  of  money  from  the  treasury  of  the  com- 
monwealth, including  annual  appropriations  to  be  met  by  as- 
sessments/ Under  this  provision,  it  appears  that  the  Super- 
visor may  be  authorized  to  make  studies  into  the  work  of  the 
Legislature  and  judiciary.  In  view,  however,  of  the  constitu- 
tional and  statutory  powers  of  those  two  branches  of  gov- 
ernment, and  of  their  functions  being  wholly  distinct  from 
those  of  the  executive  division  of  government,  the  work  of 
the  Supervisor's  office  must  be  in  practice  limited  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  various  departments,  boards  and  institutions 
in  the  executive  branch  of  the  State  government,  unless  a 
specific  request  were  made  by  the  General  Court  for  an  ex- 
amination into  some  matter  under  its  control  or  that  of  the 
courts. 

The  activities  prescribed  for  this  office  by  statute  comprise 
four  more  or  less  distinct  classes,  namely,  supervision  over 
certain  departmental  activities,  investigations  into  the  manage- 
ment of  individual  departments,  publication  of  a  list  of  State 
officials  and  employees,  and  the  making  of  constructive  stud- 
ies. The  law  does  not  group  the  department's  activities  into 
separate  classes,  but  such  an  arrangement  is  here  given  in  or- 
der to  show  clearly  the  nature  of  the  different  duties  which 
this  office  must  perform. 

Supervisory  Duties.  The  Supervisor's  office  is  vested  with 
certain  supervisory  authority  in  connection  with  the  follow- 
ing departmental  activities : 

I.  Purchasing  Methods.  The  statute  establishing  the 
Supervisor's  office  provides  that  he  may,  with  the  approval  of 
the  Council  committee  on  finance,  'designate  a  deputy  to  act 
as  investigator  of  purchases  who  shall,  under  the  direction  of 
the  supervisor  investigate  the  method  of  purchasing  all  stores, 
supplies  and  materials  used  by  the  commonwealth  or  by  any 
officer,  board,  bureau,  commission,  institution  or  department 
maintained  or  employed  by  the  commonwealth.  Such  deputy 
shall  report  the  results  of  his  investigation  with  his  recom- 
mendations to  the  Supervisor  who  may,  after  a  hearing  before 

292 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

the  governor  and  council  given  to  the  officials  concerned,  and 
with  the  approval  of  the  governor  and  council,  order  changes 
made  in  the  methods  used  in,  and  makes  rules  and  regulations, 
not  inconsistent  with  law,  governing  the  purchase  of  stores, 
supplies  and  materials  in  any  or  all  of  the  offices,  boards, 
bureaus,  commissions,  institutions  and  departments  of  the 
commonwealth.  Copies  of  orders  or  rules  and  regulations  so 
made  shall  be  transmitted  to  the  officials  concerned.  Any 
appointed  official  who  fails  to  comply  with  an  order,  rule  or 
regulation  duly  made  under  authority  hereof  may  be  removed 
by  the  governor  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council/ 

Formerly  the  supervisor  of  accounts  in  the  Auditor's  office 
was  authorized  by  law  to  inquire  into  the  methods  used  by 
State  departments  and  institutions  in  purchasing  and  handling 
stores,  supplies  and  materials,  and  to  report  to  the  Auditor 
such  changes  as  the  supervisor  deemed  wise.  These  powers 
and  duties  were  transferred  to  the  Supervisor  of  Administra- 
tion by  the  statute  creating  his  office.  . 

2.  Examination  of  Departmental  Publications.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  Supervisor  'to  examine  the  annual  reports  and  all 
special  reports  and  other  documents  issued  by  or  on  behalf  of 
the  commonwealth  by  any  public  officer,  board  or  commission/ 
excepting  the  reports  of  the  officers  of  either  branch  of  the 
General  Court  and  of  elected  officials.  The  law  authorizes 
this  office  to  'define  the  form  and  extent'  of  the  reports,  'to 
determine  the  number  of  pages  to  which  any  such  report  may 
extend,  and  to  determine  whether  it  shall  include  maps,  plans, 
photogravures,  woodcuts  or  other  illustrations/  The  ex- 
amination of  reports  was  formerly  the  duty  of  the  Board  of 
Publication,  and  was  transferred  to  the  Supervisor  upon  the 
establishment  of  his  office  and  the  abolition  of  the  Board  of 
Publication  by  chapter  296,  General  Acts  of  1916.  An  appeal 
from  the  Supervisor's  decision  regarding  any  proposed  publi- 
cation may  be  taken  to  the  Council  committee  on  finance, 
whose  decision  shall  be  final. 

The  principal  classes  of  printing  which  do  not  come  within 
the  scope  of  this  office's  examination  are  the  statute  books, 
manual  of  the  General  Court,  journals  and  all  other  legislative 
printing,  ballots,  and  other  election  printing,  printed  forms 
used  by  departments  as  work  sheets  in  the  conduct  of  their 
routine  business,  and  the  annual  reports  of  elected  officials. 
Expenditures  for  these  classes  constitute  nearly  two-thirds  of 
the  State's  printing  bill. 

293 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

3.  Approval  of  Measures  for  Preservation  of  State  Rec- 
ords. Proposed  measures  for  safeguarding  the  records  of 
the  Commonwealth  must  be  approved  by  the  Supervisor,  before 
such  measures  shall  be  put  into  effect  by  the  Commissioner  of 
Public  Records. 

Departmental  Investigations.  The  statutes  provide  that 
the  Supervisor's  office  shall  make  certain  investigations  and 
reports  which  have  to  do  with  routine  departmental  adminis- 
tration and  which  may  be  briefly  described  as  follows : 

1.  Special  examinations  of  any  matter  affecting  the  man- 
agement of  finances  of  any  department  or  institution  are  made 
upon   request  of  the  Governor,   the  Council  committee  on 
finance,  the  Legislature  or  the  ways  and  means  committee  of 
either  branch.     Similar  examinations  may  be  undertaken  on 
the  initiative  of  the  Supervisor,  under  authority  vested  in  him 
by  statute.     This  class  of  work  was  required  of  the  former 
Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency.     The  examinations 
here  referred  to  have  to  do  with  the  details  of  management  in 
a  single  department,  in  contrast  to  those  investigations  or 
studies  relating  to  broad  and  important  subjects  of  adminis- 
tration, such  as  standardization  of  salaries,  budget  procedure, 
etc.,  which  are  described  with  the  constructive  studies  pre- 
scribed for  this  department. 

2.  Reports   on   estimates   for   appropriations   are   made 
upon  request  of  the  General  Court,  the  ways  and  means  com- 
mittee of  either  branch,  the  Governor,  the  Council  or  the 
Council  committee  on  finance.     This  duty  is  a  modification 
of  that  imposed  upon  the  former  Commission  on  Economy  and 
Efficiency,  which  was  required  by  statute  to  report  on  all 
appropriation  estimates  without  being  specifically  requested. 

Annual  Publication  of  List  of  State  Officials  and  Em- 
ployees. The  publication  annually  on  or  before  October  15  of 
a  list  of  the  officials  and  employees  in  the  State  service  on  July 
I  (Public  Document  No.  90)  has  been  transferred  to  the 
office  of  the  Supervisor.  Formerly  this  duty  was  imposed  on 
the  Governor  and  Council,  and  the  list  for  1916  was  pub- 
lished under  their  jurisdiction,  as  the  Supervisor's  department 
was  established  too  late  to  perform  the  work  for  this  year. 

Constructive  Studies.  The  study  of  certain  administra- 
tive problems  which  are  met  with  generally  throughout  the 
State  service  was  transferred  to  the  Supervisor's  office  upon 
the  abolition  of  the  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency. 
The  statute  enumerates  the  following  subjects  for  study: 

294 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

1.  The  laws  governing  the  financial  transactions  of  the 
commonwealth. 

2.  Reorganization,  consolidation  or  coordination  of  de- 
partments and  institutions. 

3.  New  methods  of  administration. 

4.  Classification  of  employees,  and  fixing  maximum  and 
minimum  salaries. 

5.  Standardization  of  vacations. 

6.  Budget  method  of  appropriating  money. 

The  desirability  of  establishing  a  central  purchasing 
agency  or  department  is  enumerated  among  the  studies  trans- 
ferred from  the  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency. 
The  provision  for  such  a  study,  however,  has  been  practically 
superseded  by  the  specific  authorization  for  an  investigation 
of  purchasing  methods  set  forth  in  the  act  creating  this  office. 

Further  provision  for  study  of  salaries  was  made  by  the 
General  Court  of  1916,  which  requested  the  Governor  and 
Council  'to  undertake  an  examination  of  the  salaries  and  com- 
pensations paid  to  officers  and  employees  of  the  commonwealth 
and  of  the  several  counties  thereof,  exclusive  of  the  depart- 
ment of  legislation  and  persons  in  its  immediate  service.*  By 
a  vote  of  the  Council  a  special  committee  of  three  of  its  mem- 
bers was  appointed  to  conduct  the  investigation  requested 
by  the  General  Court,  and  the  Council  also  voted  'that  the 
Supervisor  of  Administration  be  authorized  and  requested  to 
give  the  assistance  of  his  department  to  the  investigation  as 
planned  by  this  committee.' 

Special  Investigations  authorised  by  the  General  Court 
of  1916.  The  following  special  investigations  and  duties 
were  transferred  from  the  Commission  on  Economy  and  Effi- 
ciency to  the  Supervisor's  department: 

1.  To  report,  with  any  recommendations  deemed  expedi- 
ent, relative  to  the  advisability  of  providing  pensions  for  the 
needy  blind  (chapter  139,  Resolves  of  1916). 

2.  The  Supervisor,  as  successor  to  the  Commission  on 
Economy  and  Efficiency,  is  a  member,  ex-officio,  of  the  special 
commission  established  by  the  General  Court   (chapter   106, 
Resolves  of  1916)  to  investigate  the  subject  of  agricultural 
education  as  conducted  at  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Col- 
lege, and  the  development  of  the  agricultural  resources  of  the 
Commonwealth.     This  investigation  has  consumed  a  material 
amount  of  the  Supervisor's  time,  but  has  not  otherwise  in- 
creased the  work  of  his  department. 

295 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


PUBLICATIONS 

[First]  annual  report  of  the  Supervisor  of  administration.  1916. 
Boston,  Wright  &  Potter  Printing  Co.,  state  printers,  1917.  22  p. 
(Public  doc.  No.  119.) 

Continues  the  report  of  the  Commission  on  economy  and  effi- 
ciency. 
Contents. 

Nature  and  scope  of  powers  and  duties. 

Work  performed. 

Recommendations. 

[Second]  annual  report  of  the  Supervisor  of  administration.     1917. 
Boston,  1918.     18  p. 
Contents. 

Financial  summary. 

Reports. 

Additional  legislation  of  the  year  1917  directly  affecting  the 
department  of  the  Supervisor  of  administration. 

Examination  of  departmental  publications. 

Budget. 

Standardization  of  salaries. 

Purchasing  control. 

Consolidations. 

Illinois:  Department  of  Finance.  The  establishment  of 
boards  of  control,  as  has  been  done  by  Wisconsin  and  Califor- 
nia and  other  states,  represents  one  form  of  action  on  the 
part  of  states  in  seeking  to  bring  into  existence  central  organs 
of  administrative  control.  Another  form  is  where  general  ad- 
ministrative powers  have  been  conferred  upon  the  financial 
department  of  the  state  government.  The  best  example  of 
action  in  this  way  is  furnished  by  the  state  of  Illinois.  That 
state,  as  has  been  pointed  out  in  our  account  of  the  work  of 
its  Efficiency  and  Economy  Committee,  is  the  one  American 
commonwealth  which  has  courageously  reorganized  her  admin- 
istrative system  upon  an  integrated  system.  In  doing  so  she 
appreciated  the  necessity  for  vesting  power  in  some  authority 
to  secure  a  proper  correlation  of  existing  services  and  work 
and  a  unification  and  standardization  of  financial  practice  and 
procedure.  To  obtain  this,  end  she  made  of  the  Department 
of  Finance  what  is  practically  a  bureau  of  overhead  admin- 
istration in  respect  to  financial  matters.1  The  powers  con- 
ferred upon  this  department  illustrate  so  clearly  the  specific 

1  An  act  in  relation  to  the  civil  administration  of  the  state  govern- 
ment.   Approved  March  7,  1917,  acts  of  1917,  p.  2. 

296 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

functions  or  duties  of  a  bureau  of  general  administration  that 
it  is  well  to  enumerate  them  as  set  forth  in  the  act: 

Section  36.    The  Department  of  Finance  shall  have  power : 

1.  To  prescribe  and  require  the  installation  of  a  uniform 
system   of   bookkeeping,   accounting  and   reporting   for   the 
several  departments; 

2.  To  prescribe  forms  for  accounts  and  financial  reports 
and  statements  for  the  several  departments; 

3.  To  supervise  and  examine  the  accounts  and  expen- 
ditures of  the  several  departments ; 

4.  To  examine,  at  any  and  all  times,  into  the  accuracy 
and  legality  of  the  accounts,  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the 
public  moneys  and  the  disposition  and  use  of  the  public  prop- 
erty by  the  several  departments; 

5.  To  keep  such  summary  and  controlling  accounts  as 
may  be  necessary  to  determine  the  accuracy  of  the  detail  ac- 
counts and  reports  from  the  several  departments,  and  to  pre- 
scribe the  manner  and  method  of  certifying  that  funds  are 
available  and  adequate  to  meet  all  contracts  and  obligations; 

6.  To  prescribe  uniform  rules  governing  specifications 
for  purchases  of  supplies,  the  advertisement  for  proposals,  the 
opening  of  bids  and  the  making  of  awards,  to  keep  a  catalogue 
of  prices  current  and  to  analyze  and  tabulate  prices  paid  and 
quantities  purchased ; 

7.  To  examine,  at  any  and  all  times,  the  accounts  of 
every  private  corporation,   institution,   association  or  board 
receiving  appropriations  from  the  General  Assembly; 

8.  To  report  to  the  Attorney  General  for  such  action, 
civil  or  criminal,  as  the  Attorney  General  may  deem  neces- 
sary, all  facts  showing  illegal  expenditures  of  the  public  money 
or  misappropriation  of  the  public  property; 

9.  To  examine  and  approve,   or  disapprove,   vouchers, 
bills  and  claims  of  the  several  departments,  and  such  as  are  by 
law  made  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  governor  and  referred 
to  it  by  the  governor,  and  no  voucher,  bill  or  claim  of  any 
department  shall  be  allowed  without  its  approval  and  certifi- 
cate; 

10.  To  prescribe  the  form  of  receipt,  voucher,  bill  or 
claim  to  be  filed  by  the  several  departments  with  it ; 

n.  In  settling  the  accounts  of  the  several  departments,  to 
inquire  into  and  make  an  inspection  of  articles  and  materials 
furnished  or  work  and  labor  performed,  for  the  purpose  of 

297 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ascertaining  that  the  prices,  quality  and  amount  of  such  arti- 
cles or  labor  are  fair,  just  and  reasonable,  and  that  all  the  re- 
quirements, express  and  implied,  pertaining  thereto  have  been 
complied  with,  and  to  reject  and  disallow  any  excess; 

12.  To  prepare  and  report  to  the  governor,   when  re- 
quested, estimates  of  the  income  and  revenues  of  the  state; 

13.  To  prepare  and  submit  to  the  governor  biennially, 
not  later  than  the  first  day  of  January  preceding  the  conven- 
ing of  the  General  Assembly,  a  state  budget; 

14.  To  publish,  from  time  to  time,  for  the  information  of 
the  several  departments  and  of  the  general  public,  bulletins 
of  the  work  of  the  government; 

15.  To  investigate  duplication  of  work  of  departments 
and  the  efficiency  of  the  organization  and  administration  of 
departments,  and  to  formulate  plans  for  the  better  coordina- 
tion of  departments.1 

A  reading  of  the  foregoing  provisions  shows  how  important 
an  agency  this  department  can  be  for  bringing  about  an  im- 
provement in  the  organization  and  methods  of  business  of 
the  government  of  which  it  is  a  part.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
its  administrative  reports  will  be  of  such  a  character  as  to 
make  available  to  other  states  the  results  of  its  work. 

Tennessee:  State  Budget  Commission.  On  April  6,  1917, 
Tennessee  passed  an  act  providing  for  the  adoption  of  a 
budget  system  and  the  establishment  of  a  body  known  as  the 
State  Budget  Commission,  which  should  have  charge  of  the 
preparation  of  the  budget  for  submission  to  the  legislature. 
This  commission  is  composed  of  the  Governor,  as  chairman, 
the  secretary  of  state,  and  the  comptroller,  treasurer  and 
auditor  of  the  state.  In  order  that  this  body  might  efficiently 
perform  its  duties  as  a  budget  organ,  it  is  also  given  the  duty 
and  power  to  make  investigations  into  the  organization  and 
methods  of  work  of  the  services  and  institutions  of  the  state. 
The  act  thus  provides  that : 

At  any  time  the  Budget  Commission,  or  their  duly  ac- 
credited representatives  acting  under  their  instructions,  may 

1  The  sections  of  the  act  which  follow,  and  which  relate  to  the 
preparation  of  the  budget,  are  discussed  in  the  volume  on  The  Move- 
ment for  Budgetary  Reform  in  the  States. 

298 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

examine  without  notice  the  affairs  of  any  department,  insti- 
tution, public  work,  commission  or  office  of  the  State  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  facts  and  making  findings  and  recom- 
mendations relative  to  increasing  the  efficiency  of  and  cur- 
tailing the  expense  therein. 

In  the  making  of  such  examinations  it  is  given  power  to 
administer  oaths  and  to  compel  the  attendance  of  witnesses 
and  the  production  of  records  and  papers. 

In  addition  to  this  purely  investigative  power,  however, 
the  board  is  vested  with  the  power  of  administrative  control 
in  two  important  respects.  In  the  first  place  it  is  provided 
that  "all  bills  introduced  in  either  house  carrying  appropria- 
tions should  be  itemized  according  to  the  classifications  and 
in  such  form  as  the  Budget  ^Commission  shall  prescribe;"  and 
by  a  subsequent  section  it  is  provided  that  "no  transfer  of 
funds  appropriated  for  any  item  in  the  appropriation  for  any 
state  office,  department,  commission,  board  or  institution, 
shall  be  made  except  upon  the  written  request  of  the  chief 
officer  or  officers  of  such  state  office,  department,  commission, 
board  or  institution,  to  the  Budget  Commission,  which  request 
shall  be  granted  in  writing  by  the  Budget  Commission  if,  in  its 
judgment,  such  a  transfer  of  funds  is  deemed  necessary  or 
expedient." 

The  possession  of  complete  control  in  these  two  matters 
places  the  commission  in  so  strategic  a  position  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  state  that  it  may  readily  develop  into  a  genuine 
organ  of  central  administrative  control. 

Other  States.  In  the  foregoing  we  have  given  an  account  of 
those  state  organs  which  have  as  their  primary  or  direct  func- 
tion the  exercise  of  supervision  and  control  over  the  admin- 
istrative services  of  the  state  with  a  view  to  increasing  the 
efficiency  and  economy  with  which  they  are  managed.  A 
large  number  of  other  states  have,  however,  made  a  beginning 
in  this  direction  by  vesting  in  certain  state  officers,  such  as 
the  auditor  or  comptroller,  the  power  to  prescribe  systems  of 
accounting  and  reporting,  or  in  certain  boards  the  power  to 
make  such  examination  into  the  organization  and  methods  of 
work  of  the  state  services  as  is  necessary  to  enable  them 

299 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

properly  to  perform  their  primary  duties.  Thus,  the  acts 
providing  for  the  Vermont  Board  of  Control  and  the  North 
Dakota  and  South  Dakota  Budget  Boards,  which  act  as  the 
budget-formulating  organs  for  those  states,  provide  that  they 
shall  have  power  to  visit  and  examine  into  the  affairs  of  any 
state  service  or  institution  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  in- 
formation needed  by  them  in  preparing  the  budget.  Acting 
under  this  authority  it  would  be  quite  possible  for  these  bodies 
to  become  effective  organs  of  general  administration. 

Special  mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  Indiana 
State  Board  of  Accounts,  since,  according  to  its  annual  report, 
that  service  has  made  of  itself  an  organ  for  securing  efficiency 
in  the  administration  of  public  affairs  generally.  A  very 
similar  organ  is  the  State  Bureau  of  Inspection  and  Super- 
vision of  Public  Office,  created  by  the  state  of  Washington 
in  1910,  to  prescribe,  install  and  supervise  the  operation  of 
a  system  of  accounting  and  reporting  by  state  officers. 

Finally,  there  are  undoubtedly  a  considerable  number  of 
cases  where  state  legislatures  have  standing  committees  or 
have  appointed  special  committees  to  consider  and  report  upon 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs  by  the  services  of  the  state.  An 
example  of  such  a  body  is  furnished  by  the  Iowa  Committee  on 
Retrenchment  and  Reform  which  in  1914  made  a  brief  but 
interesting  report  to  the  legislature  relative  to  the  adminis- 
trative branch  of  the  government.1 

1  Recommendations  of  the  Committee  on  Retrenchment  and  Re- 
form of  the  35th  General  Assembly  and  the  members  of  the  36th 
General  Assembly  and  the  General  Public.  Des  Moines,  1914. 


300 


CHAPTER  XI 

ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL  IN 
CITIES 

American  city  governments  like  those  of  the  states  have 
in  the  past  few  decades  assumed  a  variety  of  new  functions 
and  developed  administrative  organizations  of  greatly  in- 
creased complexity.  Even  more  generally  than  the  states 
they  have  failed  to  appreciate  the  need  for  creating  organs  of 
central  administrative  control. 

A  fuller  development  toward  such  agencies  has  undoubt- 
edly taken  place  in  New  York  than  in  any  other  American  city 
of  importance,  though  at  the  moment  the  situation  in  that  city 
represents  a  retrogression  from  the  conditions  existing  in  this 
respect  prior  to  1918.  In  the  following  pages  the  history  of 
New  York's  development  in  this  matter  is  set  forth.  No  other 
city  which  has  come  to  notice  has  developed  organs  which  are 
so  unequivocably  entitled  to  be  regarded  as  organs  of  central 
administrative  control;  but  in  the  larger  cities  generally  the 
tendency  toward  such  development  is  clearly  marked. 

New  York,  N.  Y. :  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment. 

The  growth  of  central  administrative  control  in  New  York 
is  closely  bound  up  with  the  development  of  the  segregated 
budget.  The  charter  of  the  city  provides  (Sec.  226)  that  the 
budget  "shall  be  prepared  in  such  detail  as  to  the  titles  of 
appropriations,  the  terms  and  conditions,  not  inconsistent  with 
law,  under  which  the  same  may  be  expended,  the  aggregate 
sum  and  the  items  thereof  allowed  to  each  department,  bureau, 
office,  board,  or  commission,  as  the  said  .  .  .  board  of  estimate 
and  apportionment  shall  deem  advisable."  Within  recent 
years  there  has  been  an  increasing  exercise  by  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment  of  the  power  here  granted,  so 
that  in  most  cases  the  budget  now  specifies  the  exact  title 

301 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

and  salary  of  each  and  every  employee  who  may  be  employed 
under  the  appropriation  granted;  and  this  determination  may 
be  modified  during  the  fiscal  year  only  by  the  action  of  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment. 

To  frame  the  personal  service  items  of  the  budget  in  the 
degree  of  detail  here  indicated,  and  to  pass  upon  the  requests 
currently  made  by  the  operating  departments  for  changes  in 
the  budget  lines  as  thus  prescribed,  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment  created  in  1914  a  so-called  Bureau  of 
Standards  (the  name  of  which  was  in  1917  changed  to  Bureau 
of  Personal  Service)  while  for  the  purpose  of  framing  the 
items  of  the  budget  covering  the  purchase  of  supplies  or  the 
performance  of  work  or  service  under  contract,  and  for  the 
current  investigation  of  the  contracts  proposed  to  be  let  by 
the  departments,  it  created  at  the  same  time  a  Bureau  of  Con- 
tract Supervision.  These  two  bureaus,  though  no  longer  in 
existence  as  independent  organizations,  possess  such  unique 
interest  as  marking  the  highest  development  of  central  agency 
control  yet  reached  in  municipal,  and  indeed  in  state  and 
national,  government  in  this  country,  that  a  somewhat  detailed 
account  of  them  seems  warranted.1 

Before  proceeding  to  that  account  it  should  be  pointed  out 
that  budget  examination  by  an  administrative  agency  existed 
for  some  years  before  the  creation  of  these  bureaus  in  1914, 
having  been  carried  on  by  a  bureau  of  the  Department  of 
Finance,  known  as  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Investigation  and 
Statistics;  and  indeed  that  bureau  continued  to  participate  in 
the  work  of  budget  examination  even  after  the  creation  of  the 
two  bureaus  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  here  under  discussion. 
Budget  examination  was  not,  however,  the  express  function 
for  which  that  bureau  was  created,  nor  was  the  bureau  under 
the  control  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Board  of  Estimate,  but 
under  that  of  the  comptroller,  one  of  the  members  of  the  board. 
The  creation  of  the  two  bureaus  mentioned  marks,  therefore, 
the  first  definite  recognition  by  the  board  that  it  could  no 
longer  itself  give  proper  consideration  to  the  examination  of 
the  details  of  the  budget  and  to  the  supervision  of  the  day-to- 

1  For  a  fuller  exposition  of  the  budgetary  procedure  of  New  York 
City  and  of  the  general  subject  matter  of  this  chapter  see,  The  New 
York  City  Budget,  Municipal  Research,  No.  88,  August,  1917. 

302 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

day  actions  of  the  departments  taken  under  authority  of  the 
budget  and  that  it  must  create  special  agencies  to  perform 
those  functions. 

Again,  the  emphasis  placed  upon  these  two  bureaus  should 
not  obscure  the  fact  that  they  were  not  technically  themselves 
agencies  of  administrative  control,  but  merely  advisory 
agencies  to  the  Board  of  Estimate,  which  itself  was  the  agency 
of  control.  The  bureaus  were  given,  and  could  be  given,  no 
power  of  final  determination  in  the  matters  coming  before 
them,  such  power  being  vested  by  the  charter  in  the  Board  of 
Estimate  itself. 

The  recommendations  of  the  bureaus'  examiners  as  to 
allowances  to  be  made  in  the  annual  budget  were  reviewed  in 
the  first  instance  by  a  subcommittee,  composed  of  administra- 
tive officers  representing  members  of  the  board's  budget  com- 
mittee. The  determinations  of  the  subcommittee  were  in  turn 
reviewed  by  the  board's  budget  committee  itself,  and  then  by 
the  board  in  full  session.  Owing  to  the  enormous  amount  of 
detail  involved  in  the  examination  of  the  budget,  and  the 
pressure  of  other  duties,  the  examination  given  by  the  board's 
budget  committee  and  still  more  by  the  board  itself  was  neces- 
sarily of  the  most  perfunctory  kind.  In  effect,  therefore,  the 
budget  was  determined  by  a  committee  of  administrative 
officers,  sitting  as  umpire  between  the  department  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  bureau  examiner  on  the  other. 

In  the  case  of  requests  for  budget  modifications  arising 
during  the  course  of  the  year,  the  recommendations  of  the 
bureaus  of  the  board  went  directly  to  the  appropriate  com- 
mittees of  the  board  without  the  intervention  of  a  subcom- 
mittee. In  these  cases  the  recommendation  of  the  bureau  was 
almost  invariably  accepted  without  change. 

While  the  central  control  was  thus  exercised  nominally  by 
the  Board  of  Estimate,  the  real  organ  of  central  control  was 
thus,  in  the  matter  of  annual  budget,  the  subcommittee,  and 
in  other  matters  the  bureau  of  the  board. 

Bureau  of  Standards  (later  Bureau  of  Personal  Service). 
The  history  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards  runs  back  to  1910, 
when  there  was  created  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Appor- 
tionment a  committee  to  standardize  the  salaries  of  municipal 

303 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

employees.  It  was  not  until  the  late  fall  of  1912,  however, 
that  the  necessary  funds  for  this  work  became  available.  In 
January  and  February,  1913,  a  staff  of  examiners  was  or- 
ganized to  record  and  study  salaries,  grades  and  duties  of  em- 
ployees in  practically  all  city  departments.  This  staff  devoted 
itself  to  the  compilation  of  definite  facts  relative  to  the  char- 
acter of  employment  of  substantially  every  employee  in  the 
competitive  and  exempt  classes.  Records  were  prepared  show- 
ing the  essential  facts  theretofore  unavailable  relative  to  each 
position,  and  work  commenced  on  drawing  up  definitions  and 
specifications  of  employment. 

At  the  time  of  the  creation  of  this  committee  its  work  was 
regarded  as  of  a  terminable  character.  The  Board  of  Esti- 
mate and  Apportionment  which  came  into  office  on  January 
i,  1914,  however,  took  the  view  that  even  after  a  standard 
schedule  of  duties  and  salaries  had  been  prepared  it  would  be 
necessary  to  maintain  a  staff  which  should  see  that  this  sched- 
ule was  currently  adhered  to.  It  created,  therefore,  a  so-called 
Bureau  of  Standards  to  which  was  entrusted  the  function  not 
merely  of  completing  the  work  of  drawing  up  standard  speci- 
fications of  work  and  compensation  rates  but  of  examining* 
on  behalf  of  the  board  all  requests  from  departments  for  cur- 
rent changes  in  compensation  rates  of  employees  or  for  the 
creation  of  new  positions,  and  the  annual  requests  of  depart- 
ments for  appropriations  for  personal  service  as  contained 
in  thfe  budget  estimates. 

Upon  its  creation,  the  bureau  took  over  all  the  material 
gathered  by  the  Committee  on  Standardization  and  continued 
the  studies  begun  by  that  committee.  The  first  phase  of  the 
bureau's  work,  the  preparation  of  standard  work  specifica- 
tions and  compensation  rates  for  substantially  all  classes  of 
city  employees  except  school  teachers,  was  brought  to  a  ten- 
tative conclusion  by  the  publication  in  1915  of  a  volume 
entitled  Standard  Specifications  for  Personal  Service,  in 
which  the  various  positions  in  the  city  service  were  classified 
by  "services,"  "groups,"  "positions,"  and  "grades,"  the  duties 
appertaining  to  each  of  these  classifications  defined,  and  a 
salary  rate  or  scale  proposed  for  each.  A  revised  edition  of 
these  specifications  was  published  in  the  following  year. 

304 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

Partly  owing  to  the  civil  service  difficulties  encountered 
in  attempting  to  readjust  the  titles  and  compensation  rates  of 
employees  already  in  service  to  the  new  scale,  and  partly 
owing  to  unwillingness  of  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate and  Apportionment  to  take,  at  one  stroke,  an  action 
affecting  so  materially  the  personal  interests  of  great  numbers 
of  employees,  it  proved  impossible  to  secure  the  adoption  of 
the  proposed  specifications  and  classification  as  a  whole,  prior 
to  January  i,  1918.  On  that  date  a  new  administration,  com- 
posed largely  of  elements  which  had  during  the  previous  ad- 
ministration strongly  opposed  the  proposed  specifications  and 
revised  classification,  took  office,  so  that  the  adoption  of  these 
specifications,  in  the  preparation  of  which  many  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  were  expended,  is  for  the  present  at  least, 
out  of  the  question. 

Despite  their  failure  to  receive  formal  adoption,  the  speci- 
fications received  wide  practical  application  during  the  years 
1915-1917  in  the  preparation  of  the  annual  budgets  and  in 
the  current  adjustments  of  budget  items,  the  examiners  of  the 
Bureau  of  Standards  being  under  instruction  to  be  guided  by 
the  specifications  in  their  recommendations  of  salary  rates. 
In  addition,  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  which  possesses 
large  powers  of  classification,  though  not  of  fixation  of  salaries, 
adopted  in  a  number  of  cases  the  proposals  as  to  title  and 
classification  made  by  the  bureau. 

In  1917,  the  work  of  standardizing  specifications  for  the 
purchase  of  supplies,  which  had  also  been  carried  on  by  the 
Bureau  of  Standards,  was  transferred  to  the  Bureau  of  Con- 
tract Supervision  of  which  account  is  given  below ;  and  the 
name  of  the  bureau  was  changed  to  the  Bureau  of  Personal 
Service. 

Early  in  1918,  the  new  city  administration  abolished  the 
bureau  as  a  separate  organization,  placing  the  staff  of  the 
bureau  directly  under  the  control  of  the  secretary. 


PUBLICATIONS 


Clerical  service  .  .  .   [New  York,   1915?]     68  p. 

Custodial  service.  Tentative  specifications  submitted  by  the  Bureau 
of  standards  to  the  Committee  on  salaries  and  grades  of  the 
Board  of  estimate  and  apportionment.  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown 
printing  &  binding  co.,  1915?]  50  p. 

305 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

Executive  service  and  sub-professional  service.  Tentative  specifica- 
tions submitted  by  the  Bureau  of  standards  to  the  Committee  on 
salaries  and  grades  of  the  Board  of  estimate  and  apportionment/ 
November,  1915.  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown  printing  &  binding 
co.,  1915]  45,  66  p. 

Inspectional  service.  Tentative  specifications  submitted  by  the  Bu- 
reau of  standards  to  the  Committee  on  salaries  and  grades  of  the 
Board  of  estimate  and  apportionment.  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown 
printing  &  binding  co.,  1915]  103,  [i]  p. 

Institutional  service  .  .  .  [New  York,  1915?]  61,  26  p. 

Investigational  and  educational  service  .  .  .  [New  York,  1915?]  85, 
14  p. 

Report  on  the  cost  of  living  for  an  unskilled  laborer's  family  in  New 
York  city.  Submitted  by  the  Bureau  of  standards  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  salaries  and  grades  of  the  Board  of  estimate  and  ap- 
portionment, supporting  the  salary  recommendations  for  posi- 
tions in  the  lowest  grades  of  the  street  cleaning  specifications 
and  for  other  positions  as  unskilled  laborers  throughout  the  city 
service.  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown  printing  &  binding  co.,  1915] 

57  P- 

Skilled  trades  service  and  labor  service.  Tentative  specifications  sub- 
mitted by  the  Bureau  of  standards  to  the  Committee  on  salaries 
and  grades  of  the  Board  of  estimate  and  apportionment  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  December,  1915.  [New  York,  M.  B.  Brown 
printing  &  binding  co.,  1915]  235,  [i]  p. 

Standard    specifications    for   personal    service.      [New    York,    1916] 

931  P- 

Street  cleaning  service  .  .  .  [New  York,  1915?]     50  p. 

Report  on  the  increased  cost  of  living  for  an  unskilled  laborer's  fam- 
ily in  New  York  city.  Prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  personal 
service  of  the  Board  of  estimate  and  apportionment.  [New 
York,  M.  B.  Brown  printing  &  binding  co.]  1917.  32  p. 

Bureau  of  Contract  Supervision.  Simultaneously  with 
the  creation  of  the  Bureau  of  Standards,  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate created  a  so-called  Bureau  of  Contract  Supervision.  To 
this  bureau  were  entrusted  functions  cognate  to  those  per- 
formed by  the  Bureau  of  Standards,  but  having  reference  to 
the  purchase  of  supplies  and  materials  and  to  the  performance 
of  work  by  contract.  In  1916  the  functions  of  this  bureau 
were  thus  described  in  an  official  publication.1 

i.  Review  and  report  upon  the  specifications,  estimates 
of  cost  and  forms  of  contract  for  construction  work  done  by 
the  city,  for  the  purchase  of  equipment  and  other  contractual 
service  where  such  plans,  specifications  and  estimates  of  cost 

1  Government  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1915,  p.  20. 

306 


ORGANS  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  CONTROL 

and  forms  of  contract  require  the  approval  of  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment. 

2.  Report   upon   requested   appropriations    for   purposes 
involving  physical   construction,   alteration,   repair  or  main- 
tenance and  the  operation  of  mechanical  plants. 

3.  To  make  tests  of  deliveries  on  contract  or  open  market 
order  and  make  such  other  laboratory  tests  as  may  be  requested 
by  heads  of  departments  or  required  by  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate and  Apportionment. 

4.  To  prepare  plans  and  specifications  for  work  of  physi- 
cal construction  or  alteration  when  requested  by  the  heads  of 
departments  or  required  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Ap- 
portionment. 

5.  To  report  on  progress  of  construction  contracts  when 
requested  by  heads  of  departments  or  required  by  the  Board 
of  Estimate  and  Apportionment. 

6.  To  accumulate  cost  data  on  contract  work. 

7.  To  make  examinations,  analyses  and  reports  in  con- 
nection with  the  preparation  of  tax  and  corporate  stock  bud- 
gets, and  in  connection  with  the  transfers,  modifications  and 
revenue  bond   issues  and  current  expenditures   from   funds 
by  the  various  departments,  boards,  bureaus  and  offices  of  the 
city  and  county  government. 

8.  The  establishment  of  standard  contract  practices  in 
the  various  departments  having  charge  of  the  construction 
work. 

As  the  work  is  used  as  a  basis  for  appropriations  and  cur- 
rent financial  control  of  appropriations,  it  involves  an  analysis 
of  work  methods  and  a  study  of  the  organization  of  forces 
engaged  on  the  work  of  physical  construction,  alteration,  re- 
pair or  maintenance  and  the  operation  of  mechanical  plants, 
and  the  needs  of  the  various  departments,  boards,  bureaus 
and  offices  of  the  city  and  county  government  for  supplies, 
materials  and  equipment  in  connection  with  such  work. 

In  addition,  in  1917,  there  was  transferred  to  this  bureau 
the  work  of  preparing  standard  specifications  for  the  purchase 
of  supplies,  which  had  formerly  been  conducted  by  a  division 
of  the  Bureau  of  Standards.  While  the  standardization  of 
supply  specifications  would  not  ordinarily  be  regarded  as  a 
form  of  central  administrative  control,  it  may  properly  be  so 

307 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

regarded  in  this  case.  By  the  city  charter  complete  freedom  in 
the  purchase  of  supplies  was  vested  in  the  heads  of  the  several 
departments.  By  means  of  conditions  inserted  in  the  budget, 
however,  in  connection  with  all  appropriations  for  the  pur- 
chase of  supplies  or  materials,  the  Board  of  Estimate  has 
made  mandatory  upon  the  several  department  heads  the  use 
of  the  standard  specifications  prepared  under  its  control. 


PART  III 

LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND  BILL-DRAFTING 

AGENCIES 


PART  III 

LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND  BILL-DRAFTING 

AGENCIES 

A  characteristic  of  public  administration,  distinguishing  it 
sharply  from  that  of  private  undertakings,  is  that  it  must  rest 
upon  a  foundation  of  law.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
therefore,  if  efficient  administration  is  to  be  had,  that  this 
legal  basis  shall  be  of  a  proper  character,  both  as  regards  the 
nature  of  its  provisions  and  the  technical  manner  of  their 
expression.  Efficient  legislation  must  thus  be  deemed  to  be 
one  of  the  prime  factors  of  efficient  administration.  A  serv- 
ice that  rests  upon  a  properly  drawn  body  of  administrative 
law  has  made  a  big  step  towards  securing  efficiency  in  oper- 
ation. One  which  does  not  enjoy  this  advantage  finds  its 
problem  of  securing  efficiency  correspondingly  more  difficult, 
if  not,  indeed,  impossible  of  solution. 

It  is  a  matter  of  congratulation,  therefore,  that  recent 
years  have  witnessed  a  very  important  movement  in  the  United 
States  in  the  direction  of  bringing  into  existence  agencies 
having  for  their  purpose  the  promotion  of  efficient  legislation. 
These  agencies  may  render  to  the  legislator  services  of  two 
.distinct  ends.  On  the  one  hand  they  may  furnish  him  with 
information  bearing  on  the  substantive  matter  of  the  legis- 
lation which  he  has  in  mind.  This  is  the  function  of  legis- 
lative reference  libraries,  so-called.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
may  provide  the  legislator  with  expert  assistance  in  drafting 
the  text  of  the  proposed  legislation.  It  need  hardly  be  pointed 
out  that  the  best  results  are  to  be  obtained  when  both  these 
services  are  furnished  to  the  legislator.  Nevertheless,  not  a 
few  of  our  states  have  made  provision  for  one  of  the  two  with- 
out the  other. 

In  the  following  chapters  account  is  given,  first  of  those 
agencies  which  furnish  both  these  types  of  service  to  the  leg- 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

islator;  second,  of  those  which  furnish  only  bill-drafting  serv- 
ice; and  finally,  of  those  which  furnish  only  information. 

In  the  case  of  agencies  engaged  in  bill  drafting,  the  aim  is 
not  to  supply  information  as  the  result  of  scientific  investiga- 
tion but  simply  to  make  available  the  services  of  persons  tech- 
nically trained  in  the  drawing  up  of  projects  of  law.  In  the 
case  of  legislative  reference  bureaus,  the  element  of  scientific 
investigation  plays  a  part  since  their  aim  is  not  simply  to  col- 
lect and  classify,  and  thus  render  readily  available  information 
needed  by  the  legislature,  but  upon  request,  or  in  anticipation 
of  a  request,  to  go  afield  and  collect  all  possible  information 
upon  pending  or  probable  subjects  of  legislation — the  texts 
of  bills,  and  official  and  unofficial  accounts  of  the  manner  in 
which  laws  in  other  jurisdictions  have  operated.  In  most 
cases,  it  has  not  been  thought  necessary  to  publish  the  results 
of  inquiries  thus  undertaken,  but,  in  other  cases,  valuable 
series  of  publications,  which  will  be  later  mentioned,  have 
been  issued. 

It  may,  however,  be  observed  at  this  point  that  while  in 
most  cases  the  legislative  reference  departments  limit  the  as- 
sistance which  they  give  to  providing  pertinent  data,  in  some 
cases  they  also  venture  opinions  as  to  the  argumentative  weight 
to  be  attached  to  the  information  which  they  supply.  An  in- 
stance of  this  practice  is  found  in  the  legislative  reference 
department  of  the  Library  Commission  of  Wisconsin.  While 
the  value  of  the  opinions  rendered  by  reference  services  may 
be  considerable,  it  is  clear  that  there  is  danger  in  this  practice, 
since  it  necessarily  draws  the  department  into  the  arena  of 
politics  and  policy  with  the  inevitable  result  of  bringing  it  into 
discredit,  or  at  least  into  disfavor,  with  those  who  do  not  hap- 
pen to  agree  with  the  judgments  it  expresses. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  account  of  the  three  types  of 
services  above  mentioned,  it  seems  desirable  to  reproduce  the 
very  excellent  discussion  of  the  general  principles  which  have 
been  outlined  above,  and  of  related  matters,  made  in  1913  by 
a  committee  of  the  American  Bar  Association  appointed  to 
investigate  the  subject.  This  report  is  reproduced  in  the 
following  chapter. 


312 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE    PROBLEM    OF    LEGISLATIVE    REFERENCE 
AND  BILL-DRAFTING  SERVICE 

A  REPORT  OF  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
BAR  ASSOCIATION,  1913 

Your  committee  was  appointed  ( i )  "To  consider  whether 
some  efficient  agency  can  not  be  devised  to  provide  the  sev- 
eral State  legislatures  with  scientific  and  expert  assistance 
in  the  framing  of  legislation"  and  (2)  report  on  "the  existing 
methods  of  furnishing  such  assistance  in  the  preparation  of 
legislative  enactments,  together  with  a  recommendation  as  to 
the  part,  if  any,  which  this  association  should  take  in  the  mat- 
ter." 

The  most  important  existing  permanent  public  agencies  for 
funishing   information   and    rendering   expert   assistance    in 
the  preparation  of  legislative  enactments  are  the  State  legis- 
lative reference  bureaus  and  drafting  departments, 
i 

Assistance  in  the  framing  of  legislation  given  by  existing 
agencies  falls  under  two  heads,  legislative  reference  service, 
or  the  work  of  collecting  material  throwing  light  on  the  sub- 
ject matter  of  legislation,  and  drafting  service. 

The  legislative  reference  service,  now  actually  carried  on 
in  several  States,  demonstrates  that  it  is  entirely  practicable 
to  collect,  classify,  digest,  and  index,  prior  to  a  session  of  a 
legislature,  all  kinds  of  material  bearing  on  practically  all  sub- 
jects likely  to  become  subjects  of  actual  legislation  at  the 
session.  This  material,  where  the  bureau  is  well  run,  includes 
not  only  books  and  pamphlets,  such  as  might  be  found  in  an 
ordinary  library,  but  also  copies  of  bills  introduced  into  the 

1  Paragraph  omitted  relates  to  composition  of  the  committee  and 
its  method  of  work. 

313 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

various  State  legislatures  and  laws  which  have  been  enacted 
in  this  and  foreign  countries,  and  other  printed  materials  re- 
lating to  the  operation  of  such  laws  or  the  conditions  creating 
a  need  for  them.  Indeed,  on  most  subjects  of  possible  legis- 
lation, the  difficulty  is  not  to  find  material,  but  to  arrange  the 
large  mass  of  available  material  so  as  to  make  its  efficient  use 
practical.  That  such  service  has  great  possibilities  of  useful- 
ness is  evident,  especially  where  the  service  is  directly  con- 
tributory to  the  drafting  service,  a  matter  to  be  presently 
explained.  The  increasing  complication  of  our  industrial, 
social  and  governmental  administrative  problems  renders  it 
necessary,  if  the  discussion  of  matters  pertaining  to  legislation 
is  to  proceed  in  a  reasonably  intelligent  manner,  that  system- 
atic effort  be  expended  on  the  collection  and  arrangement  of 
material  bearing  on  current  matters  of  public  discussion  likely 
to  become  the  subject  of  legislative  enactment.  A  central 
agency  to  furnish  such  service  does  not  take  the  place  of 
special  commissions  or  committees  created  to  investigate  par- 
ticular subjects  and  recommend  legislation.  The  object  of 
the  central  reference  service  should  be  to  assist  such  bodies, 
as  well  as  individual  members  of  the  legislature  and  others  de- 
siring information  pertaining  to  subjects  of  legislation. 

Existing  agencies  also  demonstrate  that  it  is  possible  to 
provide  expert  drafting  service  for  the  more  important 
measures  and  some  assistance  in  the  drafting  of  all  bills  intro- 
duced. The  number  of  bills,  for  which  expert  drafting  as- 
sistance can  be  furnished,  would  appear  to  be  merely  a  question 
of  the  size  of  the  force  and  the  amount  of  the  appropriation 
for  its  support.  Your  committee,  therefore,  believes  that  it  is 
entirely  practical  to  establish,  in  connection  with  any  legis- 
lature, a  permanent  agency  capable  of  giving  expert  drafting 
assistance  for  all  bills  introduced,  and  they  urge  the  Associa- 
tion to  place  itself  on  record  as  favoring  such  an  agency  as 
the  most  practical  means  of  bringing  about  scientific  methods 
of  legislation,  that  is  to  say,  methods  of  drafting  statutes 
which  will  secure: 

1.  Conformity  to  constitutional  requirements. 

2.  Adequacy  of  the  provisions  of  the  law  to  its  purpose. 

3.  Coordination  with  the  existing  law.     And 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE 

4.  The  utmost  simplicity  of  form  consistent  with  cer- 
tainty. 

The  technical  shortcomings  of  our  statutes  are  chiefly 
due  to  the  fact  that  they  come  from  so  many  hands  working 
without  supervision  and  without  a  concerted  plan.  Each 
statute  is  apt  to  create,  to  some  extent,  an  administrative  ma- 
chinery of  its  own,  to  have  its  own  peculiar  provisions  for 
sanction  and  enforcement,  and  to  frame  new  rules  and  prin- 
ciples applicable  to  already  existing  acts  in  part  materia.  The 
multiplicity  of  separate  provisions  for  separate  statutes  pro- 
duces confusion,  and  unnecessarily  encumbers  our  law. 

A  distinct  drafting  service  will  produce  the  one  thing  in- 
dispensable to  scientific  legislation :  a  professional  attitude  of 
mind,  which  means  training, for  the  work,  devotion  to  it,  and 
a  reputation  at  stake  in  its  proper  execution,  without  which  a 
high  quality  of  workmanship  is  as  unlikely  in  legislation  as 
in  any  other  work. 

The  organization  of  the  two  services,  legislative  reference 
and  legislative  drafting,  and  their  relation  to  each  other,  are 
important  factors  in  the  usefulness  of  the  results  obtained  from 
the  establishment  of  the  service.  The  agencies  now  existing, 
considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  organization,  fall  into 
two  classes;  those  in  which  the  legislative  reference  work  and 
the  bill  drafting  are  provided  for  in  a  single  permanent  bureau, 
as  in  Wisconsin,  Indiana,  and  Pennsylvania,  and  those  in 
which  the  legislative  reference  work  is  carried  on  by  the  State 
library  or  one  of  its  divisions,  the  drafting  work  being  done 
by  persons  appointed  by  and  operating  under  the  direct  con- 
trol of  the  legislature,  as  in  New  York,  Connecticut,  and 
Massachusetts.  Your  committee  does  not  feel  that  they  are 
as  yet  in  a  position  to  express  an  opinion  on  the  relative  merits 
of  either  form  of  organization.  They  are,  however,  of  the 
opinion  that  the  reference  service  should  be  so  organized  and 
operated  as  to  be  directly  contributory  to  the  drafting  service, 
and  that  all  questions  of  organization  of  the  two  services, 
their  physical  location  and  the  relation  of  the  reference  work 
to  the  other  ends  than  the  drafting  of  bills,  as,  for  instance, 
supplying  to  legislators  and  others  material  for  the  discussion 
of  pending  or  possible  legislation,  should  be  decided  with  this 

315 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

fundamental  principle  in  mind.  Where,  as  in  New  York,  the 
reference  service  is  not  used  by  the  drafting  department,  com- 
paratively little  use  of  the  reference  service  is  made  by  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature.  Again,  if  the  drafting  service  makes 
no  use  of  the  reference  service,  the  drafting  service  is  neces- 
sarily confined  to  minor  matters  of  form. 

It  is,  of  course,  essential  that  the  member,  administrative 
officer,  committee,  or  commission,  employing  the  drafting 
service  shall  be  the  final  judge  of  the  policy  to  be  expressed 
in  legislative  form.  Any  one  entitled  to  use  the  service  shall 
be  entitled  to  it  without  regard  to  the  effect  of  the  bill  which 
he  desires  to  have  drawn.  It  is,  however,  not  only  proper  but 
vital  if  the  drafting  service  is  to  do  more  than  correct  obvious 
clerical  and  formal  errors,  .for  those  in  charge  of  the  work  to 
be  able,  through  their  access  to  the  reference  material,  to  in- 
dicate, if  desired,  to  the  sponsors  of  the  legislation  the  statutes 
of  other  States  or  countries  dealing  with  the  same  subject,  or 
direct  their  attention  to  any  other  material  collected  by  the 
reference  service.  Theoretically,  the  member  of  a  legislature 
desiring  assistance  in  the  preparation  of  bills,  if  there  is  no  co- 
operation between  the  reference  and  the  drafting  service,  can 
go  first  to  the  reference  service  for  material  and  then  to  the 
drafting  service.  Practically,  however,  in  the  great  majority 
of  cases,  the  member  seeks  the  aid  not  of  the  reference  but  of 
the  drafting  service.  That  service  should  be  in  a  position  to 
place  the  member  in  possession  of  all  pertinent  matter  in  re- 
lation to  the  subject.  Furthermore,  the  draftsman  himself 
should  be  in  a  position  to  ask  the  person,  commission,  or  com- 
mittee intelligent  questions  as  to  the  details  of  the  measure 
desired.  This  he  cannot  do  unless  he  himself  has  some  famil- 
iarity of  the  subject  matter.  Where  the  draftsman  is  not  in 
a  position  to  refer  the  person  or  persons  desiring  the  legis- 
lation to  material  bearing  on  the  subject,  and  where  he  is  not 
in  a  position  to  ask  intelligent  questions  as  to  details,  his  as- 
sistance is  necessarily  confined  to  minor  questions  of 
form  and,  consequently,  the  effectiveness  of  the  drafting 
service  is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  valuable  results  ob- 
tained in  Wisconsin  are  due  to  a  combination  of  causes,  not 
the  least  of  which  is  the  personality  and  ability  of  Dr.  Charles 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE 

McCarthy,  the  well-known  head  of  the  service.  Another  con- 
tributory cause,  however,  is  the  fact  that  that  service  has  gone 
beyond  mere  form,  without  any  attempt  to  control  matters  of 
policy,  and  this  would  have  been  impossible  if  the  reference 
work  had  not  been  organized  so  as  to  be  contributory  to  the 
drafting  service. 

Your  committee  also  believes  that  another  essential  requi- 
site is  that  both  services  shall  be  so  organized  as  to  secure  per- 
manency of  tenure.  To  be  of  real  value  the  service  must  be 
used  and  this  cannot  be  unless  there  is  confidence  both  in  the 
competency  and  the  impartiality  of  the  personnel  of  the  serv- 
ice. Under  the  most  favorable  conditions  such  confidence  is  a 
matter  of  slow  growth.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  value 
of  the  service  in  different  states,  where  either  a  reference  or 
a  drafting  service  or  both  have  been  organized.  There  is  also 
even  more  difference  in  the  use  which  is  made  of  the  services 
established.  We  are  glad  to  report  that  the  reappointment  of 
directors  and  chief  assistants,  regardless  of  party  consider- 
ations, is  almost  universal.  It  is  to  this  fact,  as  well  as  to  the 
inherent  necessity  for  both  branches  of  this  service,  in  view  of 
existing  conditions,  that  the  growing  confidence  in  the  work 
of  the  respective  organization  in  the  several  states  where  the 
service  exists  may  be  traced. 

As  stated,  the  present  force  available  in  any  state  which  has 
established  a  central  drafting  service,  is  not  sufficient  to  fur- 
nish efficient  expert  assistance  in  the  drafting  of  all  bills  in- 
troduced. Your  committee  recognizes  that  this  condition  is 
likely,  in  most  states,  to  persist  for  some  time.  All  that  can 
be  clone,  even  by  such  an  organization  as  that  maintained  in 
Wisconsin,  is  to  give  as  much  time  as  possible  to  the  demands 
of  each  member,  reserving  special  men  for  what  are  recog- 
nized as  the  big  important  measures  of  the  session.  While  it 
is  important  that  all  bills  introduced  should  be  well  drawn, 
the  drawing  of  the  bills  that  become  law  is  of  first  importance. 
In  nearly  every  state  the  more  important  bills  enacted  into  law 
fall  under  one  of  the  following  heads :  Administration  bills, 
that  is,  bills  dealing  with  matters  referred  to  in  the  governor's 
message  and  probably  prepared  under  his  direction;  Commis- 
sion Bills,  that  is,  bills  prepared  by  special  commissions  ap- 

3*7 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

pointed  for  the  purpose ;  Committee  Bills,  that  is,  bills  prepared 
by  some  special  or  joint  committee  of  one  or  both  houses;  and 
Department  Bills,  or  bills  which  have  been  prepared  under  the 
direction  of  one  of  the  executive  departments.  In  view  of 
this  fact,  your  committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  where  full 
and  adequate  service  cannot  be  given  to  all  bills,  preference 
should  be  given:  First,  to  Administration  Bills;  second,  to 
Commission  Bills;  third,  to  Committee  Bills;  fourth,  to  De- 
partment Bills ;  and  fifth,  to  Members'  Bills.  Your  committee 
believes  that  the  recognition  of  this  principle  is  of  great  im- 
portance to  the  efficient  operation  of  the  drafting  service. 

Again,  it  is  not  only  important  that  bills  such  as  Adminis- 
tration and  Commission  Bills  be  given  preference,  but  it  is  also 
perhaps  vital  to  the  permanent  usefulness  of  the  service  and 
even  its  continuance,  that  the  administration,  the  executive  de- 
partments, commissions  and  committees,  shall  recognize  their 
obligation  to  at  least  avail  themselves  of  the  drafting  service. 
The  present  tendency  in  this  country  is  to  have  important  leg- 
islation prepared  by  special  committees,  or  by  commissions,  or 
under  the  direction  of  the  administration.  A  drafting  serv- 
ice, whose  operations  are  practically  confined  to  the  preparation 
of  Members'  Bills,  is,  therefore,  a  service  confined  to  preparing 
bills  not  likely  to  become  law,  or  pertaining  to  matters  of  com- 
paratively slight  significance.  Such  a  service  can  never  have 
an  important  influence  on  actual  legislation  and  will  never  re- 
ceive either  from  the  legislature  or  the  public  that  attention 
and  consequent  support  which  is  essential  to  efficient  work. 
The  tendency  to  have  legislation  on  important  subjects,  pre- 
pared for  submission  to  the  legislature  by  persons  especially 
designated  for  that  purpose,  is  one  which  is  on  the  whole  pro- 
ducing excellent  results.  A  commission  charged  with  the  prep- 
aration of  a  bill  on  a  particular  subject,  is  usually  composed, 
in  part  at  least,  of  experts  on  the  subject,  and  it  is  customary 
for  them  to  secure  as  secretary  or  special  draftsman  some  one 
learned  in  the  law.  But  the  average  lawyer  of  experience  is 
very  far  from  being  a  trained  draftsman,  and  bills  prepared 
by  commissions,  while  usually  a  great  improvement  on  bills 
introduced  by  members  on  their  own  initiative,  are  by  no 
means  free  from  faults  of  form  and  graver  faults  of  confusion 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE 

and  obscurity  of  expression,  all  of  which  could  have  been  eas- 
ily avoided,  if,  in  addition  to  special  expert  service,  the  body 
responsible  for  the  bill  had  at  their  disposal  the  services  of  a 
trained  draftsman  and  had  availed  themselves  of  such  services. 

The  efficiency  of  the  drafting  service  depends  not  only 
on  the  personnel,  and  on  the  recognition  of  certain  fundamental 
principles  of  organization  and  operation,  but  also,  your  com- 
mittee believes,  on  the  existence  of  a  harmonious  body  of 
principles  to  be  observed,  in  the  drafting  of  legislation.  It  is, 
however,  obvious  that  some  systematic  plan  and  effort  will  be 
needed  to  produce  a  harmonious  body  of  principles  which  can 
be  used  by  drafting  bureaus. 

As  we  look  to  constructive  work  in  economic  and  social 
science  to  furnish  principles  of  legislation  on  its  substantive 
side,  so  we  have  to  look  to  legarscience  to  furnish  such  prin- 
ciples for  the  formal  or  technical  side  of  legislation.  Thus 
the  history  of  liquor  legislation  in  this  country  furnishes  much 
valuable  data  in  the  matter  of  law  enforcement  which  should 
be  made  available  in  the  drafting  of  other  classes  of  statutes ; 
the  same  is  true  of  factory  and  labor  legislation  for  the  prob- 
lem of  meeting  the  most  obvious  contrivances  for  evading  stat- 
utory requirements. 

Unfortunately  there  is  no  book  written  in  the  English  lan- 
guage discussing,  in  the  light  of  administrative  and  judicial 
experience,  the  legal  ways  and  means  by  which  a  given  legis- 
lative policy  can  best  be  rendered  effective,  or  the  arrange- 
ments and  institutions  which  at  present  serve  that  end.  The 
reason  for  this  must  be  found  in  the  large  commercial  demand 
for  legal  works  available  for  the  business  of  litigation,  which 
has  absorbed  the  attention  of  jurists  to  the  utter  neglect  of 
scholarly  or  literary  service  to  the  no  less  important  business 
of  legislation. 

I/  The  lawyer's  treatment  of  the  law  is  analytical,  the  legis- 
lator's constructive.  To  the  lawyer  it  is  a  fixed  quantity  to 
which  he  must  adjust  himself,  to  the  legislator  a  potential 
force  which  he  may  fashion  for  his  purpose.  Obviously,  the 
two  points  of  view  are  entirely  different.  The  material  that 
the  lawyer  needs  has  been  collected  and  digested  with  a  de- 
gree of  completeness  that  leaves  hardly  anything  to  be  desired. 

319 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

But  while  the  legal  material  that  the  legislator  needs,  the  his- 
tory of  statutes  and  of  their  construction  by  the  courts  may 
also  be  found,  to  a  considerable  extent  at  least,  scattered 
through  the  law  reports,  there  is  no  key  to  it  through  digests 
or  treatises  adapted  for  his  purposes.  In  many  cases  the  at- 
torneys of  private  interests  alone  possess  the  knowledge  that 
is  needed  for  intelligent  legislation  and  the  public  does  not 
always  profit  by  that  knowledge. 

Your  committee,  therefore,  submits  that  the  Association 
should  lend  its  influence  and  aid  toward  the  work  that  needs 
to  be  done  in  this  field.  The  object  to  be  aimed  at  ultimately 
would  be  the  production  of  something  like  a  legislative  man- 
ual or  code,  a  collection  of  directions  or  suggestions  to  drafts- 
men, and  of  model  clauses  for  constantly  recurring  statutory 
provisions  and  problems.  Carefully  worked  out,  and  having 
the  sanction  of  the  approval  of  representative  bodies  of  law- 
yers and  of  students  of  legislation,  such  a  guide  could  not  fail 
of  having  considerable  effect  of  drafting  all  over  the  coun- 
try, and  the  establishment  of  drafting  bureaus  would  be  ap- 
propriately supplemented  by  giving  their  work  from  the  very 
start  a  scientific  and  uniform  direction. 

As  a  preliminary  part  of  the  work,  some  systematic  plan 
of  topics  should  be  agreed  upon  for  further  elaboration.  The 
committee,  in  Appendix  C  of  this  report,  presents  a  tentative 
draft  of  such  a  plan.  It  is  undersood  that  a  committee  of  the 
American  Political  Science  Association  will  recommend  a 
similar  arrangement  of  topics,  and  it  is  very  probable  that 
directors  of  existing  bureaus  and  others  will  aid  in  working 
out  such  a  plan.  If  the  Association  sees  fit  to  continue  this 
committee,  we  believe  that  it  should  be  directed  to  formulate 
and  report  to  the  Association  a  legislative  manual  or  code  as 
above  described,  if  further  investigation  shows  such  prepa- 
ration to  be  practical.  The  committee  should  also  have  per- 
mission to  cooperate  in  the  preparation  of  the  manual  with 
other  public  bodies  interested. 

Your  committee  believe  that  the  establishment  of  perma- 
nent reference  and  drafting  services  and  the  general  use  of  a 
harmonious  body  of  principles  relating  to  the  science  of  leg- 
islative drafting  will  do  much  to  prevent  the  enactment  by 

320 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE 

legislatures  of  unconstitutional,  obscure  and  otherwise  de- 
fective legislation.  At  the  same  time,  your  committee  realizes 
that  legislation  effective  to  its  purpose  can  only  be  normally 
produced  when  legislative  procedure  tends  to  insure  that  all 
bills  of  moment  shall  be  carefully  prepared,  and,  being  so 
prepared,  also  insures  for  them  thorough  consideration.  Eng- 
land has  apparently  evolved  a  legislative  procedure  which, 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  produces  this  result.  This  has 
been  accomplished  through  the  rules  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, which  practically  confine  the  attention  of  Parliament  to 
bills  introduced  by  the  Government.  Though  any  member  has 
the  right  to  introduce  a  bill  on  any  subject,  the  rules  have 
assigned  the  largest  part  of  the  time  of  Parliament  to  Govern- 
ment Bills.  The  executive  or  cabinet  is  part  of  the  legislature 
and  primarily  responsible  for^  the  initiation  of  all  important 
legislation.  Thus  Mr.  Bryce  informs  us  that:  "Four-fifths 
of  all  the  bills  that  are  passed,  nineteen-twentieths  of  those 
that  are  of  high  significance  are  passed  at  the  instance  of  the 
executive  government." 

Our  conditions  are  not  those  of  England.  The  separation 
of  the  legislative  from  the  executive  has  been  too  long  a  part 
of  our  constitutional  system  to  make  the  consideration  of  the 
adoption  of  the  English  system  now  practical.  Our  efforts, 
therefore,  should  be  devoted  to  evolving  from  our  own  con- 
ditions a  legislative  procedure  which  will  normally  produce 
what  the  English  procedure  produces,  namely,  the  careful 
preparation  and  consideration  of  all  legislative  enactments  of 
importance. 

Several  plans  with  this  object  in  view  have  been  suggested, 
or  are  in  actual  operation,  in  some  one  state.  Your  commit- 
tee has  given  such  consideration  to  these  plans  as  time  per- 
mitted, though  in  respect  to  two  only  do  we  feel  that  we  can 
express  at  present  even  a  qualified  opinion. 

First,  it  is  suggested  that  the  right  of  the  member  of  the 
legislature  to  introduce  bills  should  be  curtailed.  Your  com- 
mittee does  not  believe  that  this  is  practical  or,  if  practical, 
desirable.  To  require  the  consent  of  a  certain  number  of 
members  to  the  introduction  of  a  measure,  which  is  the  form 

321 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

which  the  suggestion  usually  takes,  would  probably  be  ineffec- 
tive, as  out  of  courtesy  the  permission  could  practically  al- 
ways be  obtained  from  the  requisite  number.  If  effective,  it 
may  well  be  urged  that  the  free  right  of  introducing  bills — 
even  the  custom  of  members  introducing  bills  at  the  request 
of  a  constituent,  though  out  of  sympathy  with  its  provisions 
— through  the  consequent  publication  and  publicity,  has  often 
distinct  educational  value.  The  effect  of  the  introduction  of 
a  large  number  of  bills  in  producing  ill  considered  and  inade- 
quate legislation  is  probably  exaggerated.  In  most  cases  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  bills  introduced  deal  with  matters 
of  local  and  special  concern,  while  the  great  majority  even  of 
bills  of  general  import  are  not  introduced  with  any  idea  of 
their  present  consideration  by  the  legislature.  If  we  take  from 
the  statutes  passed  the  local  and  special  acts  and  the  appro- 
priation acts,  the  criticism  which  can  be  usually  made  as  to 
the  residue  is  not  so  much  its  volume,  but  that  much  of  it 
shows,  entirely  apart  from  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  which  it 
is  desired  to  express,  the  haste  with  which  the  statute  was 
prepared  and  the  lack  of  consideration  given  to  the  adequacy 
of  its  provisions  to  effectuate  its  purpose. 

A  plan  worthy,  we  believe,  of  careful  consideration  is 
that  recently  adopted  in  California,  By  constitutional  enact- 
ment the  legislature  meets  bi-annually  on  a  given  Monday  in 
January  next  succeeding  the  election  of  members,  and  con- 
tinues in  session  for  a  period  not  exceeding  thirty  days. 
Thereupon  a  recess  must  be  taken  for  a  period  of  not  less 
than  thirty  days,  and  it  is  provided  that  on  the  reassembling 
of  the  legislature  no  bill  shall  be  introduced  in  either  house 
without  the  consent  of  three-quarters  of  its  members.  This 
constitutional  provision  was  adopted  in  October,  1911.  The 
plan,  therefore,  has  only  been  in  operation  during  the  existence 
of  the  present  legislature.  In  the  Senate  1717  bills  were  in- 
troduced during  the  first  session,  60  at  the  second  session.  In 
the  House  2021  bills  were  introduced  at  the  first  session,  105 
at  the  second.  The  information  received  by  your  committee 
would  indicate  that  there  is  considerable  difference  of  opinion 
among  the  members  of  the  legislature  as  to  the  result  of  the 

322 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE 

operation  of  the  plan.  Where  the  opinion  is  favorable,  it 
seems  to  be  admitted  that  the  experience  so  far  is  not  con- 
clusive. 

Another  plan  designed  to  create  an  opportunity  for  due 
consideration  of  the  measures  of  first  importance  is  that  re- 
cently put  in  force  in  Illinois,  where  the  House,  at  the  present 
session,  established  a  rule  favoring  Administration  Bills  (made 
such  by  a  message  of  the  governor),  which,  under  the  rule,  go 
at  once  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  and  for  the  consider- 
ation of  which  one  day  each  week  is  set  apart. 

In  general  accord  with  this  last  plan,  more  especially,  how- 
ever, to  the  end  that  the  legislature,  on  its  assembling,  should 
have  before  it  bills  of  significance  carefully  prepared,  it  has 
been  suggested  that  constitutional  provision  should  be  made 
requiring  the  executive  to  submit  bills  dealing  with  any  matter 
recommended  in  his  message  to  the  legislature  as  a  proper  sub- 
ject for  legislation,  or,  at  least,  that  this  Association  should 
specially  commend  the  practice. 

Finally,  there  was  presented  to  the  committee  the  plan  em- 
bodied in  a  bill  recently  introduced  into  the  Illinois  legislature. 
This  bill  provides  for  the  establishment  of  a  joint  legislative 
commission  composed  of  the  Governor,  Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor, Speaker  of  the  House,  chairman  of  the  Committees  on 
Appropriation  of  the  Senate  and  the  House,  chairman  of  the 
Committees  on  Judiciary  of  the  Senate  and  the  House,  together 
with  five  other  Senators  and  five  other  members  of  the  House. 
The  purpose  of  the  commission  in  general  is  to  prepare  in  ad- 
vance of  legislative  sessions  a  program  of  legislation  with 
drafts  of  bills  on  subjects  investigated  by  the  commission. 
To  this  end  the  commission  is  given  power  to  appoint  special 
committees  of  its  own  members  or  others  to  study  particular 
problems  and  draft  bills. 

Though  your  committee  does  not  feel  that  it  is  in  a  position 
to  express  any  opinion  on  the  details  of  this  bill,  they  do  be- 
lieve that  it  is  worthy  of  general  commendation,  as  the  first 
serious  attempt  to  evolve  from  our  existing  conditions  a  leg- 
islative procedure  which  will  tend  to  insure  the  adequate  prepa- 
ration and  consideration  of  important  legislation.  The  per- 

323 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

sonnel  of  the  commission  suggested,  including  as  it  does  the 
chief  executive  and  legislative  officers,  recognizes  actual  con- 
ditions, which  make  our  legislation  the  joint  act  of  two  inde- 
pendent bodies,  the  legislature  and  the  executive. 

Your  committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  improvement  in  our 
state  statutory  law  would  result  by  reducing  the  number  of 
local  and  special  bills,  but  the  investigation  that  they  have 
been  able  to  make  of  this  subject  leads  them  to  believe  that 
this  result  should  be  accomplished  by  custom  and  legislative 
action  rather  than  by  additional  constitutional  inhibition.  The 
committee  believes  that  the  method  of  providing  for  local  and 
special  legislation  should,  if  the  committee  is  continued,  be 
given  further  consideration. 

Your  committee  has  not  considered  what  method,  if  any, 
can  be  devised  to  insure  the  proper  preparation  of  acts  which 
become  law  through  the  operation  of  what  is  known  as  the 
"initiative"  without  action  by  the  legislature.  Not  only  the 
time  at  our  disposal,  but  the  terms  of  the  resolution  appointing 
us,  have  confined  our  investigations  to  conditions  pertaining 
to  acts  passing  a  representative  assembly  before  becoming 
law.  As,  however,  in  several  states,  acts  may  now  be  placed 
on  the  statute  book  without  the  action  of  the  legislature,  your 
committee  believes  that  if  the  committee  is  to  be  continued, 
they  should  be  given  power  and  direction  to  inquire  what,  if 
any,  scientific  assistance  and  what,  if  any,  rules  of  procedure 
may  be  given  or  adopted  which  will  normally  tend  to  improve 
this  class  of  statutory  law. 

Your  committee  believes  that  the  Association,  in  providing 
for  our  appointment  and  especially  in  charging  us  with  the 
duty  of  ascertaining  whether  an  efficient  agency  cannot  be  de- 
vised to  provide  the  state  legislatures  with  scientific  and  expert 
assistance  in  the  framing  of  legislation,  recognized  the  im- 
portance of  improving  the  character  of  our  statutory  law,  and 
the  possibility  of  the  Association  lending  its  aid  to  constructive 
work  having  this  end  in  view.  Your  committee  has  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  such  expert  assistance  can  be  and  should 
be  provided.  They  are  also  of  the  opinion  that  the  Association 
can  do  no  more  useful  and  constructive  work  than  to  assist  in 

324 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE 

the  creation  of  a  harmonious  body  of  principles  relating  to  the 
drafting  of  statutes,  and,  finally,  that  the  Association  may,  with 
reasonable  hope  of  profitable  results,  investigate  methods  of 
providing  for  local  and  special  legislation,  and  also  investigate 
the  rules  of  legislative  procedure  and  rules  pertaining  to  the 
operation  of  the  initiative,  with  a  view  of  ascertaining  whether 
there  are  any  principles  or  practices  the  adoption  of  which  will 
tend  to  render  our  statutory  law  more  in  accordance  with 
constitutional  requirements,  more  consistent  with  itself,  and, 
finally,  more  simple  and  certain  in  its  form.  To  carry  out 
these  conclusions  your  committee  has  prepared  and  submits 
herewith  two  resolutions,  one  commending  the  establishment  of 
permanent  central  agencies  in  ^  the  several  states  and  at  Wash- 
ington, to  furnish  expert  legislative  drafting  and  reference 
service,  and  the  other,  continuing  the  committee  and  imposing 
upon  it  the  duty  of  preparing  a  report  on  the  other  matters 
herein  suggested. 

Your  committee  recommends  the  adoption  of  the  follow- 
ing resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  the  Association,  an  official 
legislative  drafting  and  reference  service,  when  properly  organ- 
ized and  directed,  forms  an  efficient  agency  tending  to  prevent 
the  enactment  of  unconstitutional,  obscure  and  otherwise  de- 
fective statutes  and  to  secure  the  utmost  brevity  and  simplicity 
consistent  with  accuracy  in  the  language  of  statutes,  and  we 
hereby  recommend  the  establishment  and  generous  support  of 
such  service  at  Washington  and  in  those  states  not  now  having 
such  service. 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Legislative  Drafting  be 
continued,  with  instructions  to  prepare  for  submission  to  the 
Association,  if  further  investigation  shows  such  preparation 
to  be  practical,  a  legislative  manual  or  code  containing  a  col- 
lection of  directions  or  suggestions  for  drafting  laws,  and 
model  clauses  for  constantly  recurring  statutory  provisions 
and  problems,  and  that  the  committee  be  further  directed  to 
report  what,  if  any,  changes  in  existing  legislative  procedure, 
or  procedure  in  connection  with  the  operation  of  the  initiative, 
will  tend  to  the  improvement  of  our  statutory  law,  and  that 

325 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

for  these  purposes  the  committee  be  authorized  to  cooperate 
with  -other  organizations  or  individuals. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

WM.  DRAPER  LEWIS,  Chairman, 
ERNST  FREUND, 
SAMUEL  T.  UNTERMEYER, 
Louis  D.  BRANDEIS, 
THOMAS  I.  PARKINSON, 
HENRY  C.  HALL. 

I  concur  in  recommending  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions 
submitted  by  the  report.  F.  W.  LEHMANN. 


326 


CHAPTER  XIII 

AGENCIES    FURNISHING    LEGISLATIVE    REFER- 
ENCE AND   BILL-DRAFTING   SERVICE 

The  present  chapter  relates  to  agencies  which  furnish  both 
reference  and  bill-drafting  service. 

Alabama:  Department  of  Archives  and  History.  While 
in  Alabama  an  agency  has  existed  since  February  27,  1901, 
for  the  centralizing  of  official  state  records  and  the  organizing 
of  the  historical  resources  of  the  state,  namely,  the  Depart- 
ment of  Archives  and  History,  it  was  not  until  March  5, 
iQoy,1  that  that  department  was  given  the  additional  function 
of  a  legislative  reference  bureau.  This  was  done  by  the  enact- 
ment of  the  following  provision  of  law : 

In  addition  to  the  duties  now  required  by  law,  the  depart- 
ment of  archives  and  history  shall  do  and  perform  the  fol- 
lowing. *  *  *  It  shall  bring  together  and  arrange  for 
ready  consultation  a  reference  collection  of  materials  for  the 
use  of  the  members  of  the  legislature,  state  officers,  and  others 
on  all  subjects  which  may,  from  time  to  time,  be  deemed  of 
public  interest  and  importance  to  the  people  of  the  state. 

Previous  to  the  enactment  of  this  law  and  since  the  cre- 
ation of  the  Department  of  Archives  and  History,  February 
27,  1901,  the  department  had  been  active  in  meeting  the  ref- 
erence and  other  needs  of  state  legislators,  officials  and  the 
general  public. 

The  legislature  has  not  made  any  provision  bearing  upon 
the  organization  of  this  service  nor  has  it  made  any  specific 
appropriation  therefor  since  the  original  act,  this  service  being 

1  Alabama,  Acts,  1907,  No.  255,  p.  318. 

327 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

paid  for  out  of  the  general  appropriations  for  the  depart- 
ment. 

Although  no  provision  is  made  for  bill  drafting,  both  leg- 
islative reference  and  bill-drafting  services  were  rendered  by 
the  department  at  a  number  of  regular  and  special  sessions  of 
the  legislature. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Alabama  official  and  statistical  register.     1903  Montgomery,   1903 — 
Bulletin  No.   1-5.     Montgomery,   1904-1911. 
Contents. 

No.  i.  The  establishment,  organization,  activities  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  Department  of  archives  and  history  of 
the  state  of  Alabama.  1904.  48  p. 

No.  2.     McMorries,  E.  Y.     History  of  the  First  regiment,  Ala- 
bama volunteer  infantry,  C.  S.  A.     1904.     142  p. 
No.  3.     Check  list  of  newspaper  and  periodical  files  in  the  De- 
partment of  archives  and  history.     1904. 
No.  4.     Laws  governing  the  Department  of  archives  and  history. 

1907.    20  p. 

No.  5.     Revolutionary  soldiers  in  Alabama.     1911.     131  p. 
Legislative  bulletin,  No.  I  Montgomery,  1914 — 
Contents. 

No.  i.  Preliminary  index  to  the  legislative  reference  collec- 
tion of  the  Department  .  .  .  Comp.  by  Thomas  M. 
Owen.  1914.  41  p. 


Arizona:  State  Law  and  Legislative  Reference  Library. 

The  legislative  reference  work  in  Arizona  was  begun  in  1915, 
as  the  result  of  an  act  approved  March  24,  191 5, l  concerning 
the  organization  of  the  state  library.  This  act  makes  provi- 
sion for  the  establishment  of  a  Law  and  Legislative  Reference 
Library  and  the  appointment  of  a  legislative  reference  libra- 
rian, prescribing  the  usual  duties  for  the  latter.  In  addition, 
the  legislative  reference  librarian  is  required,  upon  request,  to 
"aid  and  assist  the  members  of  the  legislature,  the  governor, 
and  the  heads  of  departments  by  advising  as  to  bills  and  reso- 
lutions and  drafting  the  same  into  proper  form."  The  libra- 
rian is  prohibited  from  opposing  or  urging  legislation.  Since 
its  establishment  the  Legislative  Reference  Library  has 
drafted  about  fifty  per  cent  of  the  bills,  memorials  and  reso- 
lutions presented  in  the  legislature. 

Arizona,  Acts,  1915.    Ch.  62,  p.  132. 

328 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND  BILL-DRAFTING 

PUBLICATIONS 

Report  of  the  Arizona  state  law  and  legislative  reference  librarian. 

1915-1916 — 
Check  list  of  annual  reports.     1916-1917.     Phoenix,  1917— 

Prepared  by  Con  P.  Cronin,  state  law  and  legislative  reference 

librarian,   1916-1917 — 
Constitution  of  the  state  of  Arizona  [with  amendments].    Comp.  by 

Con.  P.  Cronin  ...  and  S.  P.  Osborn].    1917.    63  p. 

California:  Legislative  Counsel  Bureau.  The  Legislative 
Counsel  Bureau  of  California  was  originally  created  by  an 
act  approved  May  26,  191 3,1  which  act  was  amended  by  the 
act  of  May  31,  1917. 2  As  amended,  the  law  provides  for 
a  Legislative  Counsel  Bureau,  which  shall  be  in  charge  of 
a  chief,  to  be  known  as  the  legislative  counsel  of  California. 
The  duty  of  the  legislative  counsel  as  prescribed  by  law  is: 
"To  prepare  and  assist  in  the  preparation,  amendment  and 
consideration  of  legislative  bills  when  requested  or  upon  sug- 
gestion as  herein  provided.  Upon  request  he  shall  advise  any 
state  officer,  commissioner  or  bureau  as  to  the  preparation  of 
bills  to  be  submitted  to  the  legislature;  and  when  requested  so 
to  do,  he  shall  advise  as  to  their  work  with  any  legislative  com- 
mittee appointed  to  carry  on  investigations  between  sessions 
of  the  legislature.  He  shall  advise  the  legislature  from  time 
to  time  as  to  needed  revision  of  the  statutes." 

Whenever  there  is  a  probability  that  an  initiative  measure 
will  be  submitted  to  the  voters  of  the  state  and  when  requested 
in  writing  by  twenty-five  or  more  electors  proposing  it,  it  is 
his  duty  to  cooperate  with  the  proponents  in  its  preparation. 

The  legislative  counsel  is  also  required  to  prepare  or  assist 
in  the  preparation  or  amendment  of  legislative  bills  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  Governor  or  of  any  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
or  of  the  District  Courts  of  Appeal  or  of  the  Superior  Court 
of  the  State,  or  of  any  committee  of  the  Senate  or  Assem- 
bly of  the  legislature  of  the  state.  During  legislative  ses- 
sions the  bureau  is  required  to  "give  such  consideration  to  and 
service  concerning  any  bill  before  the  legislature,  as  circum- 
stances will  permit"  on  the  request  of  the  Governor  or  either 

1  California,  Acts,  1913,  Ch.  322,  p.  626. 
"California,  Acts,  1917,  Ch.  727,  p.  1398. 

329 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

house  of  the  legislature  or  any  committee  having  such  bills 
before  it  for  consideration.  After  adjournment  the  bureau  is 
required  to  assist  the  Governor,  on  his  request,  in  disposing 
of  any  bills  in  his  hands  for  rejection  or  approval  or  other 
action. 

The  act  provides  that  neither  the  legislative  counsel  nor 
any  employee  of  the  bureau  shall  oppose  or  urge  legislation; 
but  the  bureau,  when  requested,  must  aid  and  assist  any  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature,  so  far  as  it  may  be  in  its  power,  in 
the  preparation  of  bills,  resolutions  and  measures,  drafting  the 
same  into  proper  form  and  furnishing  the  fullest  information 
upon  all  matters  in  the  scope  of  the  bureau. 

The  legislative  counsel  is  required  to  be  in  attendance  upon 
all  sessions  of  the  legislature.  He  is  appointed  by  the  Gover- 
nor and  he  appoints  all  the  employees  of  the  bureau. 

The  state  also  maintains,  as  a  part  of  the  state  library,  a 
legislative  reference  service.  This  service  is  organized  entirely 
independently  of  the  legislative  counsel's  office  and  will  be 
treated  in  the  chapter  dealing  with  reference  services.1 

PUBLICATIONS 

General  election  laws,  supplement  of  1916.  Comp.  by  the  Legislative 
counsel  bureau.  [Sacramento]  California  state  printing  office, 
1916.  62  p. 

Laws  of  California  relative  to  production  and  standard  of  dairy  prod- 
ucts. State  dairy  bureau  .  .  .  Prepared  by  Legislative  counsel 
bureau.  1917.  51  p. 

Provisions  of  the  constitution  and  statutes  of  California  governing 
the  submission  of  measures  to  the  whole  people  by  the  initiative 
and  referendum.  Comp.  by  the  Legislative  counsel  bureau.  [Sac- 
ramento] California  state  printing  office.  1916.  12  p. 

Constitution  of  the  state  of  California  and  summary  of  amendments 
.  .  .  Prepared  by  the  Legislative  counsel  bureau.  1917.  376  p. 

Illinois:  Legislative  Reference  Bureau.  The  Illinois  Legis- 
lative Reference  Bureau  is  governed  by  a  special  commission 
consisting  of  the  Governor,  and  the  chairmen  of  the  commit- 
tees on  appropriation  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, provided  for  by  an  act  approved  June  26,  19 13* 
This  commission,  or  bureau,  appoints  a  secretary  who  is  re- 

1  See  p.  357. 

2  Illinois,  Acts,  1913,  p.  391. 

330 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND  BILL-DRAFTING 

quired  to  devote  his  entire  time  to  the  duties  of  his  office. 
Provision  is  also  made,  in  the  act  creating  the  bureau,  for  the 
appointment  by  the  bureau  of  such  other  agents  and  employees 
as  may  be  necessary. 

The  bureau  is  required  to  collect  and  make  available  the 
usual  legislative  reference  materials;  to  prepare  a  budget  of 
state  appropriations;  and  "to  afford  to  any  member  of  the 
General  Assembly  upon  his  request,  such  legal  assistance  and 
information  as  may  be  practicable  in  the  preparation  of  bills, 
memorials,  resolutions,  orders  and  amendments,  alterations, 
changes  thereto,  and  revisions  and  substitutes  thereof,  pro- 
posed to  be  introduced  into  the  General  Assembly  by  said 
member."  This  bureau  has  made  the  first  attempts  in  the  state 
along  the  lines  of  scientific  budget  making.  It  issues  a  weekly 
Legislative  Digest. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Digest  of  legislation  enacted  and  proposed,  48th  General  assembly. 
[Springfield,  111.,  The  E.  F.  Hartmann  co.,  1913]     112  p. 
Continued   by    Legislative    digest    [for    succeeding    sessions    of 
the   General  Assembly]. 

Detailed  budget  of  the  appropriations   requested   for  the  biennium 
1915-1916  filed  with  the  Legislative  reference  bureau,  state  of 
Illinois.     Springfield,    111.,   Jeffersons   printing  company    [1914]. 
vii,  236  numb.  I  . 
1917-18.     1917. 

Illinois  party  platforms,  1914,  with  select  bibliographies  of  available 
material  on  file  in  the  Legislative  reference  bureau,  relating  to 
the  subjects  enumerated  therein.  [Springfield,  111.,  Schnepp  & 
Barnes,  state  printers,  1914]  43  p. 

Workmen's  compensation  act  and  rules  of  procedure.  Issued  by  the 
Industrial  board  of  the  state  of  Illinois  .  .  .  Prepared  by  the 
Legislative  reference  bureau.  [Springfield,  111.,  Schnepp  & 
Barnes,  state  printers,  1914]  51  p. 

Budget  classification  and  rules  of  procedure  for  the  officers  of  the 
several  state  departments  for  filing  estimates  of  the  appropria- 
tion which  their  departments  may  require  for  the  fiscal  period 
1917-18.  [Springfield,  Schnepp  &  Barnes,  state  printers,  1916] 
23  p.  incl.  forms. 

Lawmaking,  an  outline  of  the  successive  steps  in  the  preparation  and 
enactment  of  laws  with  notes  and  citations,  by  Joseph  James 
Thompson.  [Springfield,  Schnepp  &  Barnes,  state  printers,  1916] 
36  P- 

The  Legislative  reference  bureau,  its  work  and  functions.  Legisla- 
tive reference  bureau,  Springfield,  Illinois  .  .  .  [Springfield, 
Schnepp  &  Barnes,  state  printers,  1916]  8  p.  | 

331 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

"Compilations  of  the  Illinois  legislative  reference  bureau,"  p.  5-7. 
Cost  of  state  government.    Comp.  by  Finley  F.  Bell,  secretary.    1916. 
46  numb.  i.    incl.  tables. 

ARTICLES 

Bell,  Finley  F.  A  legislative  aid:  the  work  and  functions  of  the 
Legislative  reference  bureau  of  Illinois.  Case  and  comment, 
Jan.,  1917,  v.  23:  625-29. 

Indiana:  Legislative  and  Statistical  Bureau.  A  legislative 
reference  department  was  created  in  the  state  library  of  In- 
diana as  the  result  of  an  act  approved  on  March  9,  1907. l  In 
1913  this  department  was  made  a  separate  bureau  by  an  act 
approved  March  14,  1913, 2  the  bureau  being  under  the  direc- 
tion of  a  board  consisting  of  the  Governor,  the  state  librarian, 
the  presidents  of  the  two  state  universities  and  one  additional 
member  appointed  by  the  Governor.  This  act  also  enlarged 
the  functions  of  this  service  to  include  both  legislative  refer- 
ence and  bill-drafting  work.  In  1917,  however,  a  provision 
was  inserted  in  the  annual  appropriation  act  abolishing  this 
bureau.  At  the  same  time,  by  another  act,  this  department 
was  authorized  to  prepare  the  Year  Book.  The  Governor  has 
continued  the  bureau,  paying  for  it  out  of  an  emergency  fund. 


PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  [of  the  Legislative  reference  department  of  the  State  library] 

No.  1-6.    Indianapolis,  1908-1912. 
Contents. 

No.     i.     Local  option  by  election.     1908.     2  p. 

No.     2.     Index  to  governors'  messages,  1816-1851.     1908.     13  p. 

No.     3.     Guarantee  of  bank  deposits,   1908.     12  p. 

No.     4.     Hints  on  bill  drafting  by  J.  A.  Lapp.     1910.    9  p. 

No.     5.     Digest  of  the  laws  of  Indiana  of  special  application  to 

women  and  children.     1912.     27  p. 
No.     6.     Inheritance  taxation,  1912.    9  p. 

Bulletin  [of  the  Bureau  of  legislative  information.]     No.  i — Indian- 
apolis,  I9i3-date. 
Contents. 

No.     i.     Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  of  Indiana,  1913. 

52  P- 

No.     2.     Drainage   and   reclamation   of   swamp   and   overflowed 
lands,  by  Charles  Kettleborough,  1914.    68  p. 

1  Indiana,  Acts,  1907,  Ch.  147,  p.  236. 
''Indiana,   Acts,   1913,   Ch.  255,   p.  694. 

332 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE   AND   BILL-DRAFTING 

No.     3.     Legislative  bill  drafting,  1914.     36  p. 

No.     4.     Flood  protection  in  Indiana,  by  W.  K.  Hatt,  1914.    51  p. 

No.     5.     Forms  of  city  government,  by  Frank  G.  Bates,   1916. 

25  P- 

No.     6.     The  budget,  by  W.  T.  Donaldson,  1916.    30  p. 
No.     7.     Control  and  supervision  of  state  institutions,  1916.  40  p. 
No.     8.     City  planning,  by  Frank  G.  Bates,  1916.    31  p. 
No.     9.     The  trend  of  legislation  for  public  health,  by  Arthur 

Connors,  1916.    38  p. 
No.  10.     Control  of  corporate  finance,  by  Louie  J.   Oberreich, 

1917.    66  p. 

Kansas :  State  Library :  Legislative  Reference  Department. 

The  Legislative  Reference  Department  of  the  State  Library 
maintains  both  a  legislative  reference  and  a  bill-drafting  serv- 
ice. It  has  classified  and  arranged  the  economic  and  legisla- 
tive matter  in  the  state  library,  for  the  use  of  members  of 
the  legislature,  state  officers  and  other  citizens  interested  in 
state  legislation.  It  offers  trained  legal  assistance  concern- 
ing new  proposed  legislation,  and,  when  desired,  places  it  in 
the  proper  technical  bill  form  for  introduction. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.  I —  Jan.,  1914 —  Topeka,  1914-date. 
Contents. 

No.  i.  Legislative  systems.  Part  i.  The  unicameral  system. 
Part  2.  The  bicameral  system.  Part  3.  Bibliography 
.  .  .  Topeka,  1914.  144  p. 

Maryland :  Department  of  Legislative  Reference.  The  De- 
partment of  Legislative  Reference  is  both  a  state  service  for 
Maryland  and  a  municipal  service  for  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
By  an  act  approved  April  9,  1906, *  it  was  originally  created 
as  a  municipal  department  of  the  city  administration  of  Bal- 
timore. From  the  beginning,  however,  it  has  rendered  serv- 
ices to  the  state  legislators,  and  on  April  18,  1916  2  an  act 
was  approved  imposing  on  its  executive  officer  the  additional 
duty  of  investigating  and  reporting  upon  the  laws  of  Maryland 
and  other  states  "any  subject  upon  which  he  may  be  requested 
so  to  report  by  the  Governor  of  Maryland,  any  committee  or 
member  of  the  General  Assembly,  or  the  head  of  any  State 

1  Maryland,  Acts,  1906,  Ch.  565. 

a  Maryland,  Acts,  1916,  Ch.  474,  p.  953. 

333 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

department;"  of  accumulating  "all  data  obtainable  in  relation 
to  the  practical  operation  and  effect  of  such  laws;"  of  inves- 
tigating and  collecting  "all  available  information  relating  to 
any  matter  which  is  the  subject  of  proposed  legislation  by  the 
General  Assembly ;"  and  of  preparing  or  aiding  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  "any  bill  or  resolution  when  requested  so  to  do  by 
any  member  of  the  General  Assembly."  The  bureau  main- 
tains a  branch  office  at  Annapolis,  the  state  capital,  during 
the  sessions  of  the  legislature,  the  permanent  main  office  be- 
ing in  Baltimore. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Annual   report,     ist-ioth,   1907-1916. 

Round  table,  February  26,  1907.    43  p. 

Remarks  of  Theodore  Marburg,  Horace  E.  Flack,  Ira  Remsen, 
Westel  W.  Willoughby  and  Jacob  H.  Hollander,  on  the  new 
Department  of  legislative  reference. 

Legislative  expenditures.  Legislative  apportionment.  Baltimore,  Md. 
1909.  8  p.  incl.  tables. 

Synopsis  of  laws  enacted  by  the  state  of  Maryland,  legislative  ses- 
sion, 1916.  Comp.  by  Horace  E.  Flack,  Department  of  legisla- 
tive reference,  Baltimore,  Md.  1916.  56  p. 

Synopsis  of  laws  enacted  by  the  state  of  Maryland,  legislative  ses- 
sion, 1918.  Comp.  by  Horace  E.  Flack,  Department  of  legisla- 
tive reference,  Baltimore,  Md.  1918.  56  p. 

The  Maryland  budget  amendment.  [Feb.  5,  1917]  Baltimore  [1917] 
56  p. 

ARTICLES 

Flack,  Horace  E.  The  Department  of  legislative  reference  in  Balti- 
more, Md.  Municipal  engineering,  Sept.,  1908,  v.  35:  156-62. 

Michigan:  State  Library:  Legislative  Reference  Depart- 
ment. The  original  act  of  June  28,  1907^  creating  the  Legis- 
lative Reference  Department  of  the  Michigan  State  Library, 
made  no  provision  for  a  bill-drafting  service.  Such  a  pro- 
vision, however,  was  inserted  in  the  act  of  April  25,  1917  2 
which  amends  the  earlier  act.  As  amended,  the  law  pro- 
vides that  there  is  created  in  connection  with  the  state  li- 
brary "a  department  known  as  the  legislative  reference  and 
information  department  for  the  use  and  information  espe- 
cially of  members  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 


1  Michigan,  Acts,  1907.    No.  306,  p.  405. 
a  Michigan,  Acts,  1917.    No.  120,  p.  196. 

334 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND  BILL-DRAFTING 

tives,  the  several  state  departments  and  such  other  persons 
as  may  desire  to  consult  the  same."  It  further  provides  that 
the  state  librarian  shall,  appoint  an  assistant  who  shall  "make 
available  for  ready  reference  and  use,  suitable  indexes  to  all 
such  information  as  is  contained  in  the  various  public  docu- 
ments of  this  state  and  other  states,  including  Senate  and 
House  documents  and  legislative  journals,  and  shall  keep  a 
complete  file  of  all  bills  printed  by  order  of  either  house  of 
the  Legislature.  He  shall  procure  and  compile  in  suitable 
and  convenient  form  for  ready  reference  and  access,  informa- 
tion as  to  proposed  and  pending  legislation  in  other  states,  and 
shall  also  investigate  the  operation  and  effect  of  new  legisla- 
tion in  other  states  and  countries.  ...  He  shall  also  give 
such  advice  and  assistance  to  the  members  of  the  Legislature 
as  they  may  require  in  the  preparation  of  bills  and  resolutions, 
and  shall  draft  bills  upon  such  subjects  as  they  may  require." 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.  i—  Sept.,  i9O7-date(?) 
Contents. 

No.  i.     Constitution  of  the  state  of  Michigan,  1850.    Sept,  1907. 

78  p. 

No.  2.  First  state  constitution,  1835.  Proposed  constitution 
of  1867.  Proposed  constitution  of  1873.  Sept.,  1907. 
69  p. 

No.  3.  Local,  special  and  private  legislation,  municipal  charters, 
gubernatorial  veto,  initiative  and  referendum  as  pro- 
vided for  and  regulated  by  the  constitutions  of  the 
several  states.  Sept.,  1907.  24  p. 

No.  4.     Legislative  reference  list.    Employers'  liability  and  work- 
men's compensation.    Feb.,  1911.     17  p. 
No.  5.     Laws  of  the  various  states  relating  to  a  minimum  wage 

for  women  and  minors.    Nov.,  1913.    37  p. 

Documents  compiled  for  the  Committee  on  printing  of  the  Consti- 
tutional convention  of  1907.     22  v. 

Pamphlets  with  caption  titles  containing  constitutional  provisions 
of  other  states,  on  various  topics,  compared  with  those  of  Mich- 
igan. 
Contents. 

[No.     i]     Amendment  and  revisions.     30  p. 

[No.     2]     Boundaries,    seat    of    government    and    departments. 

22  p. 

"No.     3]     Bribery  and  corruption.     16  p. 
^No.     4]     Education  and  public  schools.    80  p. 
No.     5]     Elections.    70  p. 
No.     6]     Eminent  domain.    13  p. 

335 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


No.  7 
No.  8 
No.  9 
No.  10 
No.  ii 
No.  12 
No.  13" 
No.  14 
No.  15 
No.  16 
No.  17' 
No.  i8_ 
No.  19" 
No.  20 
No.  21 

No.   22 


Executive  department.     103  p. 

Exemptions  [from  taxation],     13  p. 

Finance  and  taxation.    81  p. 

Impeachment  and  removal  from  office.     31  p. 

Judicial  department.    252  p. 

Legislative  department.    284  p. 

Miscellaneous  provisions  and  addenda.     60  p. 

Labor  interests.    10  p. 

Liquor  traffic.     5  p. 

Military  affairs.    28  p. 

Municipal  corporations.     119  p. 

Preambles  and  bills  of  rights.    37  p. 

Private  corporations.     114  p. 

Public  lands  and  forest  protection.     16  p. 

Rights  of  women.    4  p. 

State  officers;  salaries;  state  boards  and  institutions. 


101  p. 

Laws  of  the  various  states  relating  to  vagrancy  (with  bibliography), 
June,  1910.  29  p. 

Mortgage  taxation  and  commission  government;  reprinted  articles 
by  M.  A.  Schaffner  for  the  Grand  Rapids  (Mich.)  Evening  press. 
1908.  18  p. 

The  history  of  railroad  taxation  in  Michigan  ...  by  Wilbur  O. 
Hedrick  .  .  .  1912.  70  p. 

Laws  of  the  various  states  relating  to  presidential  primaries.  Feb- 
ruary, 1912.  25  p. 

Digest  of  the  laws  of  the  various  states  relating  to  motor  vehicles. 
1914.  8  p. 

Local  legislation.  Opinion  of  Attorney-general  Grant  Fellows  upon 
what  constitutes  a  local  or  special  act  under  the  Michigan  con- 
stitution .  .  .  Jan.  25,  1915.  2  p. 

Laws  of  Michigan  relating  to  women.  Comp.  by  Charles  W.  Brad- 
rick.  1916.  105  p. 

Laws  of  the  various  states  relating  to  vagrancy.  Prepared  by  Olive 
C.  Lathrop.  Rev.  ed.  Lansing,  Mich.,  State  printer,  1916.  61  p. 
"Supplementary  list  of  selected  references  on  vagrancy  and  juve- 
nile delinquency,"  p.  59-61. 

Legislative  circular,  No.   1-2    [Lansing,   19-  to   1915]. 

Missouri :  Library  Commission :  Legislative  Reference  De- 
partment. No  specific  provision  of  law  has  ever  been  made  in 
Missouri  for  the  creation  of  a  legislative  reference  or  a  bill- 
drafting  service.  An  act  approved  April  7,  1909,  *  provided 
for  the  establishment  of  a  library  of  the  General  Assembly 
to  be  located  at  the  Capitol  under  the  control  of  the  House 
or  Senate  during  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly  and  under 
the  charge  of  the  secretary  of  the  Missouri  Library  Commis- 
sion at  other  times.  No  special  appropriation  has  been  made 

1  Missouri,  Acts,  1909,  p.  653. 

336 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE   AND   BILL-DRAFTING 

for  this  service.  The  library  is  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
members  of  the  General  Assembly.  Bill  drafting  was  done  to 
a  limited  extent  in  the  legislative  session  of  1917. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Classified  index  of  bills  prepared  for  47th  General  Assembly,  Mis- 
souri. March  17,  1913.  34  p. 

Digest  of  the  laws  of  other  states  on  prison  labor,  bearing  on  House 
bill  543,  49th  General  assembly  of  Missouri,  1917.  Jan.,  1917. 
17  p. 

Montana :  State  Library :  Historical  and  Miscellaneous  De- 
partment: Legislative  Reference  Bureau.  In  Montana,  the 
Legislative  Reference  Bureau  is  a  section  of  the  Historical 
and  Miscellaneous  Department  of  the  State  Library.  It  was 
organized  in  1909  in  accordance  with  an  act  approved  March 
4,  I9O9.1  The  object  of  the  bureau  as  specified  in  the  act 
is  "to  gather  and  make  available,  such  information  as  shall 
aid  the  members  of  the  Legislature  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties,  and  to  render  assistance  in  the  drafting  of  bills."  The 
act  makes  the  usual  provision  for  the  collection  of  the  legis- 
lative reference  material. 

Nebraska :  Legislative  Reference  Bureau.  The  first  mention 
of  legislative  reference  work  in  Nebraska  is  made  in  an  ap- 
propriation act  approved  April  10,  1907,2  which  had  the  fol- 
lowing item  in  the  appropriation  for  the  State  Historical  So- 
ciety :  "For  labor  and  supplies  in  legislative  reference  depart- 
ment." In  1909  this  appropriation  was  repeated,  but  no  other 
mention  was  made,  in  either  year,  of  a  legislative  reference 
service.  An  act  specifically  creating  a  Legislative  Reference 
Bureau  was  approved  April  7,  191 1,3  which  provided  that 
the  bureau  shall  "gather,  arrange,  catalogue,  compile,  edit, 
index,  and  publish  information  upon  subjects  of  legislation 
and  administration;"  that  it  shall  "maintain  a  compact  library 
of  books,  pamphlets,  maps,  clippings,  and  other  material  use- 
ful for  its  purposes;"  that  it  shall  "prepare  check  lists  and 
catalogues  of  Nebraska  legislative  bills,  and  public  docu- 

1  Montana,  Acts,  1909,  Ch.  65,  p.  79. 

2  Nebraska,  Acts,  1907,  Ch.  198,  p.  552. 
"Nebraska,  Acts,  1911,  Ch.  72,  p.  310. 

337 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ments ;"  that  it  shall  "carry  on  research  in  other  subjects  of 
special  public  interest  and  publish  the  same  in  convenient 
form;"  and  that  it  shall  "maintain  a  special  service  upon 
municipal  subjects  for  use  of  city  and  village  officials."  The 
bureau  is  affiliated  with  the  Department  of  Political  Science 
and  Sociology  and  with  the  College  of  Law  of  the  University 
of  Nebraska.  The  act  provides  that  the  director  and  his  as- 
sistant, who  are  appointed  by  the  board  of  regents  of  the  State 
University,  "shall  neither  oppose  nor  urge  legislation,  but 
may,  upon  request,  aid  and  assist  members  of  the  legislature 
and  the  executive  departments  as  to  bills,  resolutions  and 
measures,  drafting  the  same  into  proper  form  and  furnish- 
ing to  them  the  fullest  information  upon  matters  in  the  scope 
of  the  bureau." 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.  I — Lincoln,  1912 — 
Contents. 

No.     I.     Nebraska  legislative  reference  bureau.     1912   (folder). 

No.  2.  Preliminary  report,  Nebraska  Employer's  liability  and 
workmen's  compensation  commission.  1912.  48  p. 

No.  3.  Legislative  procedure  in  the  forty-eight  states,  by  A.  E. 
Sheldon  and  Myrtle  Keegan.  1914. 

No.  4.  Reform  of  legislative  procedure  and  budget  in  Ne- 
braska. A  report  by  Joint  committee  of  Senate  and 
House.  1914.  47  p. 

No.  5.  Nebraska  municipalities,  by  A.  E.  Sheldon  and  W.  E. 
Hannan,  1914.  74  p. 

No.  6.  Bank  deposit  guaranty  in  Nebraska,  by  Z.  C.  Dickin- 
son [I9M?]  38  p. 

No.  7.  The  direct  primary  in  Nebraska,  by  N.  H.  Debel. 
1914.  112  p. 

No.  8.  Local  and  Nebraska  history  in  Nebraska  public  schools, 
by  C.  N.  Anderson.  1915.  15  p. 

No.  9.  State  supported  library  activities  in  the  United  States, 
by  Edna  B.  Bullock.  1915.  71  p. 

No.  10.  The  Torrens  land  transfer  act  of  Nebraska,  by  Thorne 
A.  Browne.  1916.  60  p. 

No.  ii.  Legislative  procedure,  by  M.  K.  Mason.  Revision  of 
Bulletin  No.  3. 

No.  12.     The  exercise  of  the  veto  power  in  Nebraska,  by  K.  E. 

Carlson.     1917.     104  p. 
Manual   of   Nebraska   legislative   procedure.     Senate   rules.     House 

rules.     Joint  rules.     Legislative  history.     Comp.  by  C.  A.  Soren- 

sen  and  Myrtle  Keegan.    Addison  E.  Sheldon,  editor.    [Lincoln?] 

Nebraska  Legislative  reference  bureau,  1917.     124  p. 

"Act   establishing   the   Nebraska   legislative   reference   bureau," 
p.  112-4. 

338 


LEGISLATIVE   REFERENCE  AND   BILL-DRAFTING 

Subject  index  of  Senate  and  House  bills  and  list  of  bills  introduced 
by  each  member.  Also  members  of  Senate  and  House,  their 
addresses  and  telephones,  Senate  and  House  committees,  sched- 
ules of  committee  meetings.  Comp.  by  Edna  D.  Bullock.  Pre- 
pared and  pub.  by  the  Nebraska  Legislative  reference  bureau, 
with  the  cooperation  of  the  secretary  of  the  Senate  and  chief 
clerk  of  the  House.  [Lincoln?  1915]  126  p. 
At  head  of  title:  Nebraska  Legislature.  Thirty-fourth  session, 

1915.     4th  ed. 

Subject  index  of  Senate  and  House  bills  with  other  legislative  in- 
formation.   Final  ed.,  April  i,  1917.    Comp.  by  Edna  D.  Bullock. 
Pub.  by  the   Nebraska   Legislative   reference  bureau.     Lincoln, 
Neb.  [1917].     120  p. 
At  head  of  title:     Nebraska  Legislature.     Thirty-fifth   session, 

1917. 

New  Hampshire:  State  Library:  Legislative  Reference 
Bureau.  The  Legislative  Reference  Bureau  in  the  State 
Library  of  New  Hampshire  was  created  by  an  act  approved 
May  21,  I9I3,1  which  provided  for  the  establishment  of  a 
legislative  reference  bureau  under  the  direction  of  the  state 
librarian,  whose  duties  in  addition  to  the  usual  legislative  ref- 
erence requirements  are  to  prepare  abstracts  of  laws  in  other 
states  and  countries,  to  supply  such  other  information  as 
may  be  of  service  to  the  members  of  the  legislature,  or  the 
executive  departments  in  the  performance  of  their  duties,  and 
to  furnish  to  members  of  the  legislature  such  assistance  as 
may  be  demanded  in  the  preparation  and  formulation  of  leg- 
islative bills.  An  amendment  relating  to  state  and  other  pub- 
lic libraries,  enacted  March  7,  19 1/,2  provides  that  "the  trus- 
tees shall  establish  within  the  state  library  such  catalogues  and 
collections  as  in  their  judgment  will  make  it  most  serviceable 
in  matters  of  legislation." 

North  Carolina:  Historical  Commission:  Legislative  Ref- 
erence Department.  The  Legislative  Reference  Service  is  a 
department  of  the  North  Carolina  Historical  Commission  cre- 
ated by  an  act  approved  March  9,  IQI5.3  This  act  author- 
izes and  requires  the  commission  "to  appoint  a  properly  quali- 
fied person  to  be  known  as  a  Legislative  Reference  Librarian, 

1  New  Hampshire,  Acts,  1913,  Ch.  206,  p.  761. 

a  New  Hampshire,  Acts,  1917,  Ch.  59,  Sec.  18,  p.  511. 

"North  Carolina,  Acts,  1915,  Ch.  262,  p.  277. 

339 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  collect,  tabulate,  annotate,  and  di- 
gest information  for  the  use  of  the  members  and  committees 
of  the  General  Assembly,  and  other  officials  of  the  state,  and 
of  the  various  counties  and  cities  included  therein,  upon  all 
questions  of  state,  county  and  municipal  legislation."  Other 
duties  incident  to  a  legislative  reference  service  are  also  pre- 
scribed. In  addition,  the  legislative  reference  librarian  is  re- 
quired to  keep  the  Revisal  of  1905  revised  to  date. 

While  there  is  no  specific  provision  in  the  laws  requiring 
the  Historical  Commission  or  the  legislative  reference  libra- 
rian to  perform  bill-drafting  service,  the  Legislative  Reference 
Department,  at  the  only  session  of  the  legislature  that  has 
taken  place  since  the  department's  creation,  drew  up  about 
500  bills  for  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  besides  fur- 
nishing data  and  information  relating  to  as  many  more. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.  I —  Raleigh,  1915 — 

Bulletin  No.  I.  Amendments  to  revisal  of  1905  enacted  by  the  Gen- 
eral assembly  of  North  Carolina.  1907-1915.  Comp.  by  W.  S. 
Wilson,  legislative  reference  librarian.  (Publications  of  the 
North  Carolina  Historical  commission.  Legislative  reference 
dept.) 

First  biennial  report  of  the  legislative  reference  librarian  1915-1916. 
Reprinted  from  the  sixth  biennial  report  of  the  North  Carolina 
Historical  commission,  1915-1916. 

North  Dakota:  Public  Library  Commission:  Legislative 
Reference  Bureau.  Both  legislative  reference  and  bill-draft- 
ing services  are  rendered  by  the  Legislative  Reference  Bureau 
of  North  Dakota.  This  JDureau  is  one  of  the  departments 
of  the  Public  Library  Commission.  It  was  created  in  accord- 
ance with  an  act  approved  March  2,  1907,*  which  was 
amended  by  an  act  approved  March  3,  1909^  to  read  as  fol- 
lows: 

The  State  Library  Commission  shall  have  power  and  it 
shall  be  its  duty  to  establish  a  legislative  reference  bureau  for 
the  information  and  assistance  of  the  members  of  the  legis- 
lative assembly  in  the  work  of  legislation.  The  legislation  of 

1  North  Dakota,  Acts,  1907,  Ch.  243,  p.  382. 

2  North  Dakota,  Acts,  1909,  Ch.  156,  p.  191. 

340 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND  BILL-DRAFTING 

other  states  and  information  upon  legal  and  economic  ques- 
tions shall  be  classified  and  catalogued  in  such  a  way  as  to 
render  the  same  easy  of  access  to  members,  thereby  enabling 
them  better  to  prepare  their  work.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
legislative  librarian  to  assist  in  every  way  possible  the  members 
of  the  legislative  assembly  in  obtaining  information  and  in 
the  preparation  of  bills. 

The  legislative  reference  librarian  collects  information  on 
subjects  that  are  likely  to  come  up  for  consideration  when  the 
legislature  convenes.  This  information  consists  of  pamphlets 
prepared  by  students  of  and  specialists  in  each  subject;  of  re- 
ports of  commissions,  of  investigating  committees,  bureaus 
and  other  bodies  that  have  conducted  inquiries  in  specialized 
fields;  of  reports  of  departments  of  state  and  municipal  gov- 
ernments that  have  had  charge  of  the  enforcement  and  ad- 
ministration of  laws  dealing  with  specified  subjects;  and  of 
discussions  from  current  newspapers.  This  material  is  clas- 
sified and  condensed  for  use  by  the  legislator. 

Much  of  the  time  of  the  legislative  reference  librarian  is 
also  given  to  bill  drafting. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.   i. —  Bismarck,  N.  D.,   1910 — 
Contents. 

No.  i.     Permanent  state  tax  commissions,  a  comparative  digest 

of  state  legislation ;  comp.  by  S.  Johnson.    1910.    96  p. 

No.  2.     Good  roads:  an  outline  of  state  road  systems;  comp.  by 

S.  Johnson.     1910.     96  p. 

No.  3.     Budgetary  laws;  comp.  by  I.  A.  Acker.     1912.    20  p. 
No.  4.     Widows'   pension   laws;   comp.   by   I.   A.   Acker.     1914. 
29  p. 

Ohio :  State  Board  of  Library  Commissioners :  Legislative 
Reference  Department.  The  Legislative  Reference  Depart- 
ment of  Ohio  was  organized  in  1910  as  a  part  of  the  state 
library,  in  accordance  with  an  act  approved  May  13,  iQio.1 
The  act  of  January  31,  I9I3,2  amending  the  original  act, 
made  it  a  separate  department  with  a  director  in  charge,  but 
under  the  direction  and  supervision  of  the  State  Board  of  Li- 

1  Ohio,  Acts,  1910.    No.  384,  p.  221. 
'Ohio,  Acts,  1913.    No.  173,  p.  8. 

341 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

brary  Commissioners.  The  director  is  appointed  by  this 
board  and  is  required  to  be  an  expert  in  political  science,  eco- 
nomics and  public  law.  His  duty  is  "to  collect  and  compare 
the  laws  of  this  and  other  states  pertaining  to  any  subject 
upon  which  he  may  be  requested  to  report  by  the  governor 
or  any  committee  or  member  of  the  general  assembly ;  to  col- 
lect all  available  information  relating  to  any  matter  which 
shall  be  the  subject  of  proposed  legislation  of  the  general  as- 
sembly; to  prepare  or  advise  in  the  preparation  of  any  bill 
or  resolution  when  requested  to  do  so  by  the  governor  or  by 
any  member  of  the  general  assembly;  to  preserve  and  collate 
all  information  obtained  ...  ;  to  collect  such  books,  pam- 
phlets, periodicals,  documents  and  other  literature  as  may  be 
of  use  to  the  general  assembly  or  other  state  officials."  He 
is  also  required  to  keep  a  file,  with  index,  of  documents  and 
reports  of  all  of  the  states,  bills  and  resolutions,  etc.  He  is 
authorized  to  employ  the  necessary  clerks  and  draftsmen. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Ohio  canals,  by  C.  B.  Galbreath.     1911. 

Initiative  and  referendum  by  C.  B.  Galbreath.     1911.     79  p. 

Nomination  and  election  of  United  States  senators,  by  C.  B.  Gal- 
breath. 1911.  15  p. 

Ohio  constitutional  conventions,  by  C.  B.  Galbreath.     1911. 

Public  service  commission  laws;  a  comparison  of  the  laws  of  New 
York,  Wisconsin,  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey  and  Maryland,  by 
John  A.  Lapp.  1911.  18  p. 

Record  of  bills  and  resolutions  introduced  in  the  79th  General  as- 
sembly of  Ohio.  1911. 

Regulation  of  public  utilities;  a  comparison  of  the  New  York  and  the 
Wisconsin  public  utilities  bills.  1911.  36  p. 

Workmen's  compensation  or  insurance  against  loss  of  wages  arising 
out  of  industrial  accidents,  by  J.  H.  Boyd.  1911.  49  p. 

Organic  law  of  Ohio  and  proposed  amendments.     1913. 

Compulsory  voting  and  absent  voting,  with  bibliographies  by  W.  T. 
Donaldson.  1914. 

Civil  service  laws  of  Ohio.  Comp.  by  Legislative  reference  depart- 
ment. Published  by  direction  of  Board  of  library  commissioners. 
1915.  70  p. 

Report  of  the  Committee  for  an  investigation  of  finances  of  munici- 
palities. Bulletin  of  the  Ohio  Legislative  reference  department. 
Feb.  3,  1915.  41  p.  incl.  tables. 

Road  laws  of  Ohio,  comp.  by  Legislative  reference  department. 
Published  by  direction  of  Board  of  library  commissioners  of 
Ohio.  1915.  xxxix,  335  p. 

Laws  of  Ohio  relative  to  legal  advertising.     1916. 

342 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE   AND   BILL-DRAFTING 

Finances  of  Ohio  cities,  debt  and  taxation.  Bulletin  of  the  Ohio  Legis- 
lative reference  department.    Columbus,  1917.    81  p.  incl.  tables. 

Pennsylvania:  Legislative  Reference  Bureau.  The  Leg- 
islative Reference  Bureau  of  Pennsylvania,  as  at  present  con- 
stituted, was  authorized  by  an  act  of  April  27,  1909, 1  as 
amended  by  the  acts  of  April  21,  191 1,2  and  May  14,  IQIS-3 
The  bureau  was  established  primarily  for  the  use  and  informa- 
tion of  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  heads  of 
the  several  departments  of  the  state  government,  and  such 
other  citizens  of  the  commonwealth  as  may  desire  to  consult 
the  same. 

Under  the  act  creating  the  bureau  it  becomes  the  duty  of 
the  director  and  his  assistants,  -upon  request,  to  aid  and  assist 
the  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  Governor,  and  the 
heads  of  the  departments  by  advising  as  to  bills  and  resolu- 
tions, and  also  to  draft  the  same  into  proper  form  for  pres- 
entation to  the  legislature.  The  bureau  is  also  required  to 
furnish  to  the  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  Gov- 
ernor and  the  heads  of  the  departments,  full  information  upon 
all  matters  of  public  interest.  It  may  neither  urge  nor  op- 
pose legislation  nor  suggest  any  bills  for  introduction.  The 
purpose  and  aim  of  the  bureau  in  the  drafting  of  bills  is  to 
pay  particular  attention  to  the  form,  to  make  them  readable 
and  easily  understood,  to  look  into  their  constitutionality,  both 
as  to  form  and  substance  and  their  effect  upon  existing  leg- 
islation. The  bureau  keeps  a  file  and  index  of  the  bills  in- 
troduced at  each  session. 

The  bureau  prepares  from  time  to  time  and  publishes  bul- 
letins, pamphlets  and  circulars  containing  information  col- 
lected by  the  bureau  and  such  compilations  of  the  laws  of  the 
state  and  of  other  states  as  are  deemed  of  service  to  the  state 
government. 

An  act  approved  May  20,  1913,*  directed  the  bureau  to 
examine  the  entire  statute  law  of  the  commonwealth  and  to 
ascertain  what  laws  and  parts  of  laws  have  been  repealed  or 

1  Pennsylvania,  Acts,   1909,  p.  208. 

^Pennsylvania,  Acts,  1911,  p.  76. 

3  Pennsylvania,  Acts,  1915,  p.  474. 

4  Pennsylvania,  Acts,  1913,  p.  250. 

343 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

which  have  become  obsolete;  and  to  prepare,  for  adoption  or 
rejection  by  the  General  Assembly,  compilations,  by  topics, 
of  the  existing  general  statutes.  Subsequent  acts  approved 
May  14,  1915  [Public  Laws,  194]  and  May  3,  1917  [Public 
Laws,  87]  authorized  the  bureau  to  continue  this  work. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bill   drafting,   by   James   McKirdy,   assistant   director.     Harrisburg. 

1912.    22  p. 

"A  paper  read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  National  association 
of  state  libraries,  held  at  Ottawa,  June,   1912,"  p.  5. 

"List  of  works,"  p.  17-23. 
Constitution  of  Pennsylvania,  analytically  indexed,  and  with  index 

of  prohibited  legislation.     1912.     118  p. 
Liquor  laws  of  Pennsylvania.     Comp.  by  James  McKirdy,  assistant 

director.     Harrisburg,  C.  E.  Aughinbaugh,  printer  to  the  state, 

1912.     i  p.  1.,  46  p. 

Comprises  only  the  general  laws  relating  to  the  sale  of  liquors. 
Special   legislation   in   Pennsylvania,   by   James    McKirdy,    assistant 

director.     Harrisburg,  C.  E.  Aughinbaugh,  printer  to  the  state 

of  Pennsylvania,  1912.     12  p. 

Preliminary  draft  of  a  bill  codifying  the  existing  general  laws  re- 
lating to  boroughs.  1914.  286  p. 

-  Revised  draft.     1915.    288  p. 

Preliminary  draft  of  a  bill  codifying  the  existing  general  laws  relat- 
ing to  corporations.  1914.  382  p. 

-  Revised  draft.     1914.    380  p. 

Preliminary  draft  of  a  bill  consolidating  the  existing  general  laws 
relating  to  boroughs.  1914.  242  p. 

Preliminary  draft  of  a  bill  consolidating  the  existing  general  laws 
relating  to  taxation.  1914.  252  p. 

Report  on  the  codification  of  the  statutes.  John  N.  Moore,  director. 
Harrisburg,  W.  S.  Ray,  state  printer,  1915.  12  p. 

A  compilation  of  the  laws  relating  to  the  Board  of  public  charities, 
with  important  provisions  of  the  laws  relating  to  the  several 
state  institutions  and  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Committee 
on  lunacy,  indexed.  Prepared  by  John  H.  Fertig,  esq.,  and 
Frank  M.  Hunter,  esq.,  under  the  direction  of  James  N.  Moore, 
director.  1916.  260  p. 

A  compilation  of  the  laws  relating  to  juvenile  courts  and  dependent, 
neglected,  incorrigible  and  delinquent  children.  Prepared  by 
John  H.  Fertig  and  S.  Edward  Hannestad,  under  the  direction 
of  James  N.  Moore,  director.  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  W.  S.  Ray,  state 
printer,  1916.  112  p. 

Compilation  of  the  general  laws  relating  to  townships.  Legislative 
reference  bureau.  Prepared  by  John  H.  Fertig,  esq.,  and  Frank 
M.  Hunter,  esq.,  under  the  direction  of  James  N.  Moore,  director. 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  W.  S.  Ray,  state  printer,  1916.  322  p. 

Constitutions  of  Pennsylvania.  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
analytically  indexed  and  with  index  of  legislation  prohibited  in 

344 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND  BILL-DRAFTING 

Pennsylvania.  Prepared  by  John  H.  Fertig,  esq.,  and  Frank  M. 
Hunter,  esq,,  under  the  direction  of  James  N.  Moore,  director. 
Harrisburg,  Pa.,  W.  S.  Ray,  state  printer,  1916.  302  p. 


ARTICLE 

Watts,  I.  A.    Work  in  the  Pennsylvania  legislative  reference  bureau. 
Law  library  journal,  Jan.,  1917,  v.  9:  139-46. 

Rhode  Island:  State  Library:  Legislative  Reference 
Bureau.  This  bureau  is  a  branch  of  the  Rhode  Island  State 
Library.  It  has  its  origin  in  an  act  approved  April  23,  iQO/,1 
which  was  amended  by  an  act  of  April  30,  igoS.2  As 
amended,  the  law  provides  that  "there  shall  be  in  the  state  li- 
brary, under  the  direction  of  the  state  librarian,  a  legislative 
reference  bureau,  which  shall  collect,  arrange,  and  place  on 
file,  books,  pamphlets,  and  other  material  relating  to  legis- 
lation, which  shall  prepare  abstracts  of  laws  in  other  states, 
and  which  shall  present  such  other  information  as  may  be 
useful  and  necessary  to  the  general  assembly  in  the  perform- 
ance of  its  legislative  duties." 

The  state  library  is  operated  primarily  as  a  legislative 
library  while  the  legislature  is  in  session.  There  have  been 
segregated  from  the  main  collection,  for  quick  reference,  the 
important  books  and  pamphlets  bearing  on  legislative  ques- 
tions and  to  these  have  been  added  other  legislative  refer- 
ence material,  all  classified  and  indexed  according  to  approved 
legislative  reference  bureau  methods.  The  appropriations  of 
the  bureau  have  been  increased  from  time  to  time  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  service. 

No  provision  has  been  made  for  the  employment  of  drafts- 
men either  under  the  legislature  or  under  the  legislative  ref- 
erence department  of  the  state  library.  The  state  librarian 
and  his  assistants,  however,  render  in  an  unofficial  way,  such 
assistance  as  they  can  in  preparing  bills  for  introduction. 
While  there  has  never  been  authority  granted  for  this  pur- 
pose, the  burden  of  this  work  has  been  placed  upon  the  state 
library.  During  1917,  the  library  prepared  for  the  legis- 
lature 547  acts,  resolutions,  petitions  and  memorials. 

1  Rhode  Island,  Acts,  1907,  No.  1471,  p.  93. 
a  Rhode  Island,  Acts,  1908,  No.  1554,  p.  128. 

345 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


PUBLICATIONS 

Legislative  reference  bulletin  [No.  i] —  Providence,  1907 — 
Contents. 

No.  i.  The  veto  power  in  the  several  states.  Comp.  and  an- 
notated by  Arthur  C.  Wyman  and  Grace  M.  Sher- 
wood. 1907.  57  p. 

No.  2.  Automobile  laws  of  the  New  England  states,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania.  Comp.  by  Arthur  C. 
Wyman.  1908.  106  p. 

No.  3.  Summary  of  the  general  banking  laws  of  the  commer- 
cial states.  Comp.  by  Grace  M.  Sherwood.  1908.  334  p. 

No.  4.  Officers,  boards  and  commissions  of  Rhode  Island. 
Comp.  by  Henry  E.  Fowler  and  Grace  M.  Sherwood. 
1911.  67  p. 

No.  5.  Employer's  liability  and  workmen's  compensation.  By 
Edward  A.  Adams  and  William  E.  Sprackling.  1912. 
69  p. 

No.  6.  General  constitutional  and  statutory  provisions  relative 
to  suffrage.  Comp.  by  Lowell  Kendrick  and  Harold 
P.  Salisbury.  1912.  99  p. 

No.  7.  State  commissions  on  economy  and  efficiency.  Comp.  by 
Chester  C.  Waters.  1915.  15  p. 

No.  8.     Exercise   of    sanitary   police   powers    in    Rhode    Island. 

By  Lester  Burrell  Shippee.    1916.    36  p. 
Circular  No.  i.     Rhode  Island  towns  and  cities.     Expenditures  for 

highways  and  bridges,  1898-1909.     1911.    6  p. 

South  Dakota:  State  Library:  Division  of  Legislative 
Reference.  The  Legislative  Reference  Division  of  the  South 
Dakota  State  Library  was  created  by  an  act  approved  Feb- 
ruary 1 8,  1 907.*  The  state  library  with  all  its  divisions, 
was  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the  Free  Library  Com- 
mission by  an  act  of  February  19,  I9I3,2  creating  that  com- 
mission. The  act  of  1907  directs  the  state  librarian  "to  es- 
tablish a  division  of  legislative  reference,  in  which  he  shall 
provide  the  reports  of  the  various  officers  and  boards  of  this 
state  and  as  far  as  may  be  of  other  states,  and  such  other  ma- 
terial upon  economic  and  sociological  subjects  as  he  may  be 
able  to  provide,  and  shall  index  and  classify  the  same  and 
make  the  information  therein  available  for  the  use  of  the 
state  legislature,  and  shall,  as  required,  provide  for  the  use 
of  members  of  the  legislature,  such  information  and  assist  in 
drafting  bills  and  in  every  reasonable  way  make  the  division 

1  South  Dakota,  Acts,  1907,  Ch.  185,  p.  395. 
*  South  Dakota,  Acts,  1913,  Ch.  217,  p.  300. 

346 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND   BILL-DRAFTING 

useful  in  the  preparation  of  legislation."  A  librarian  has  been 
actively  in  charge  of  this  work  since  the  enactment  of  this 
law.  He  shelves  all  the  documentary  material  from  other 
states  of  the  Union,  and  adds  such  reference  material  as  can 
be  obtained  without  purchase.  Between  legislative  sessions 
the  librarian  compiles  digests  on  subjects  of  interest  to  legis- 
lators concerning  laws  of  other  states;  secures  material  from 
other  legislative  reference  agencies;  and  makes  indexes  of 
bills  introduced  and  of  other  material. 

The  library  drafts  about  one-half  of  the  bills  that  are  in- 
troduced into  each  session  of  the  legislature. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.  i.  Digest  of  governors'  messages  of  [South  Dakota] 
ed.  by  Thomas  Askin,  1910?  74,  6  p. 

Bulletin  No.  2.  Parallel  references,  the  Constitution — the  constitu- 
tional debates,  with  digest  to  supreme  court  reports.  1910.  79  p. 

Bulletin  No.  3.  History  of  the  initiative  and  referendum  in  South 
Dakota.  Pierre?  1916.  5  p. 

Bulletin  No.  4.     Titles  of  laws.     1916.     3  p. 

Bulletin  No.  5.     Prisoners  on  public  highways? 

Vermont:  State  Library:  Legislative  Reference  Bureau. 

The  Legislative  Reference  Bureau  was  originally  established 
by  the  act  of  January  12,  191 1,1  under  the  supervision  of  the 
state  library.  No 'provision  was  then  made  for  a  bill-draft- 
ing service,  but  the  rules  of  the  legislature  provided  for  a  joint 
committee  known  as  the  "Revision  Committee"  to  whom  all 
bills  were  referred  previous  to  their  introduction,  for  cor- 
rection as  to  phraseology,  form,  etc.  An  act  of  February  21, 
I9I3,2  amending  the  act  of  1910,  provided  for  two  officers 
known  as  "revisers  of  bills"  to  be  appointed  by  the  Governor 
and  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  An  act  of  February  3,  I9I5,3 
placed  the  power  of  appointment  in  the  hands  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  with  the 
deciding  vote  in  the  Chief  Justice,  when  necessary,  and 
changed  the  title  to  "legislative  draftsmen."  This  amend- 
ment also  provided  that  "the  legislative  draftsmen  shall  per- 

1  Vermont,  Acts,  1910,  No.  9,  p.  7. 
''Vermont,  Acts,  1912,  No.  14,  p.  14. 
'Vermont,  Acts,  1915,  No.  10,  p.  74. 

347 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

form  their  duties  in  the  office  of,  and  in  connection  with,  the 
Legislative  Reference  Bureau  in  the  State  Library,"  and  pre- 
scribed their  duties  to  be  to  "give  assistance  to  members  and 
committees  in  the  drafting  of  bills,  resolutions  and  amend- 
ments, if  so  requested,"  and  prohibited  them  from  opposing 
or  urging  legislation  or  the  election  of  any  officer  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly.  It  further  provided  that  "the  legislative 
draftsmen  shall  perform  for  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives all  the  duties  of  a  Committee  on  Revision  of 
Bills,  except  when  the  joint  rules  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  provide  that  such  Committee  be  otherwise 
constituted." 

An  act  approved  March  21,  19 17,1  makes  it  a  duty  of  the 
legislative  reference  librarian  to  make  and  publish  condensed 
statements  of  the  monthly  reports  which  all  state  departments 
and  other  state  institutions  are  required  to  make  to  the  Board 
of  Control. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Finding  list,  Legislative  reference  department.     1912.     in  p. 

Direct  primaries.    Montpelier,  Vt,  1914.    8  p.,  i  fold.  1 

The  state's  work.     Pt.  I.  An  analysis  of  the  state  boards,  officers, 

commissions  and  institutions     Pt.  II.  A  brief  digest  of  the  state 

department  reports  for  the  biennial  period  ending  June  30,  1916. 

Comp.  by  the  Legislative  reference  bureau.     [Montpelier]   1916. 

60  p. 

For  publications  before  February,  1913,  sec  Vermont.  State 
library.  Legislative  reference  department. 

Virginia:  Legislative  Reference  Bureau.  The  Legislative 
Reference  Bureau  of  Virginia  was  created  by  an  act  ap- 
proved March  21,  I9I4.2  It  is  in  charge  of  a  director  who 
is  appointed  by  the  Governor  with  the  approval  of  the  Sen- 
ate. The  organic  act  makes  the  usual  provision  for  the  col- 
lection and  classification  of  material  and  the  employment  of 
the  necessary  force  of  assistants,  draftsmen  and  clerks.  The 
act  further  provides  that  upon  the  request  of  the  Governor 
or  any  member  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  bureau  shall : 

Draft  or  aid  in  drafting  legislative  bills  or  resolutions  and 
amendments  thereto ;  advise  as  to  the  constitutionality  or  prob- 

1  Vermont,  Acts,  1917,  No.  32,  p.  27. 
a  Virginia,  Acts,  1914,  Ch.  194,  p.  314. 

348 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND   BILL-DRAFTING 

able  legal  effect  of  proposed  legislation ;  prepare  summaries 
of  existing  laws  affected  by  proposed  legislation,  compilations 
of  laws  in  other  states  or  countries  relating  to  the  subject  mat- 
ter of  such  legislation,  and  statements  of  the  operation  and 
effect  of  such  laws;  make  researches  and  examinations  as  to 
any  subject  of  proposed  legislation. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Legislative  reference  lists. 

1910.  Bank  examiners.  City  charters.  Municipal  home  rule. 
Fee  system.  Juvenile  courts.  Oyster  industry.  Primaries. 
Liquor  question.  Protection  of  birds.  Taxation.  Tubercu- 
losis. 

A  brief  history  of  taxation  in  Virginia,  by  Edgar  Sydenstricker  .  .  . 
Richmond,  1915.  66  p. 

Legislation  in  Virginia,  1914.  Comp.  by  Lewis  Machen,  director. 
Richmond,  1915.  13  p. 

A  summary  of  tax  systems,  boards,  and  methods  of  equalization  of 
the  several  states.  Comp.  by  Lewis  H.  Machen,  director.  Rich- 
mond, 1915.  29  p. 

A  condensation  of  portions  of  a  bulletin  recently  issued  by  the  U.  S. 
Bureau  of  the  census,  supplemented  by  reference  to  bulletins  of 
the  New  York  tax  reform  association  and,  in  some  instances,  by 
inspection  of  the  statutes,  cf.  Explanation,  p.  [2] 

Extracts  from  liquor  laws  of  prohibition  states.  Comp.  under  the 
direction  of  Lewis  Machen,  director.  1916.  264  p. 

Department  of  archives  and  history.  Legislative  reference  library. 
Charleston,  W.  Va.,  Lovett  printing  co.,  n.d.  [2]  p. 


West  Virginia:  Department  of  Archives  and  History: 
Legislative  Reference  Section.  While  there  is  no  law  in 
West  Virginia  creating  a  legislative  reference  or  bill-drafting 
service,  and  no  specific  appropriation  has  been  made  for  one, 
the  Governor  in  1913  requested  the  state  historian  and  archi- 
vist to  organize  a  Legislative  Reference  Section  in  the 
library  of  the  Department  of  Archives  and  History.  The 
material  of  the  library  has  been  specially  arranged  and  made 
available  for  purposes  of  legislative  reference.  The  section 
is  gathering  all  information  that  is  likely  to  be  of  use  to  the 
legislative  and  administrative  branches  of  the  state  govern- 
ment. This  material  is  at  the  command  of  members  of  the 
legislature,  administrative  officers  and  other  citizens. 

The  Department  of  Archives  has  undertaken,  to  a  limited 
extent,  the  preparation  of  tentative  drafts  of  legislative  meas- 

349 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

ures  in  accordance  with  specifications  submitted,  but  it  is  not 
the  intention  of  the  present  librarian  to  continue  this  service. 

Wisconsin:  Free  Library  Commission:  Legislative  Refer- 
ence Department.  The  Legislative  Reference  Department  of 
the  Wisconsin  Library  Commission  was  established  in  a  small 
way  in  1901  under  authority  of  an  act  approved  April  13, 
1901. 1  Subsequent  laws  were  enacted2  on  May  13,  1903, 
May  8,  1905,  July  9,  1907,  August  9,  1913  and  June  14,  1917, 
further  defining  the  duties  of  the  commission  with  respect  to 
the  legislative  reference  and  bill-drafting  work  and  making 
specific  appropriation  therefor.  Provision  for  the  employ- 
ment of  a  corps  of  draftsmen  for  the  bill-drafting  service  was 
first  made  in  the  act  of  1917.  This  service  is  maintained  dis- 
tinct from,  but  in  close  cooperation  with,  the  legislative  ref- 
erence work,  the  two  services  being  coordinate.  No  legal 
provision  has  been  made  for  any  particular  form  of  organiza- 
tion, for  a  director,  or  for  the  tenure  of  office  of  those  em- 
ployed in  the  service,  all  this  being  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
Free  Library  Commission. 

At  present  the  duties  of  the  Free  Library  Commission  with 
reference  to  the  Legislative  Reference  Department  as  de- 
fined by  law  are  as  follows : 

To  maintain  in  the  state  capital,  for  the  use  and  infor- 
mation of  the  legislature,  the  several  state  departments,  and 
such  other  citizens  as  may  desire  to  consult  the  same,  a  legis- 
lative reference  room  and  a  small  working  library  ...  of 
the  several  public  documents  of  this  and  other  states,  and 
to  purchase  for  said  library  standard  works  of  use  and  ref- 
erence. The  said  commission  may  also  collect,  summarize  and 
index  information  of  a  legislative  nature  relating  to  legislation 
of  foreign  countries,  of  states  of  this  country,  the  federal  gov- 
ernment and  municipalities,  [and]  make  such  investigations 
into  statute  law,  legislative  and  governmental  institutions  as, 
will  aid  the  legislature  to  perform  its  duties  in  the  most  efrP 
cient  and  economical  manner. 

^Wisconsin,  Acts,  1901.     Sec.  373f,  Ch.  168,  p.  213. 

"Wisconsin,  Acts,  1903,  Ch.  177,  p.  384;  Wisconsin,  Acts,  1905, 
Ch.  177,  p.  263;  Wisconsin,  Acts,  1907,  Ch.  508,  p.  70;  Wisconsin, 
Acts,  1913,  Ch.  772,  p.  1269;  Wisconsin,  Acts,  1917,  Ch.  425,  p.  690. 

350 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  AND   BILL-DRAFTING 

With  regard  to  bill  drafting,  the  law  provides  that  "the 
free  library  commission  shall  employ,  during  each  legislative 
session  and  the  two  months  next  preceding  each  session, 
draftsmen  and  such  help  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  draft- 
ing of  bills."  An  annual  appropriation  of  $21,800  is  made 
"for  carrying  out  the  powers,  duties  and  functions  provided 
by  law  for  the  legislative  reference  department."  The  act 
of  1917  appropriated  $6,000  as  "an  emergency  fund  for  the 
execution  of  the  functions  of  the  legislative  reference  library 
in  preparing  for  special  and  regular  sessions  of  the  legislature 
and  during  the  continuance  of  such  sessions." 

PUBLICATIONS 

Comparative   legislation  bulletin,   No.    I — Madison,    1906 — 
Contents. 

No.     I.     Railway    coemployment,    by    M.    A.    Schaffner.      1905. 

27  p. 

No.     2.     Lobbying,  by  M.  A.  Schaffner.    1909.    31  p. 
No.     3.     Corrupt  practices  at   elections:   contributions  and   ex- 
penditures.    1906.    35  p. 

No.     4.     Exemption  of  wages,  by  M.  A.  Schaffner.     1906.    39  p. 
No.     5.     Municipal    electric    lighting,    by    E.    B.    Smith.      1906. 

22  p. 
No.     6.     Trust  company  reserves,  by  M.  A.   Schaffner.    1906. 

24  p. 
No.     7.     Taxation  of  trust  companies,  by  M.  A.  Schaffner.   1906. 

19  p. 

No.     8.     Municipal  gas  lighting,  by  E.  S.  Bradford.    1906.    18  p. 
No.     9.     Boycotting,  by  G.  G.  Huebner.    1906.    26  p. 
No.  10.     Blacklisting,  by  G.  G.  Huebner.     1906.    22  p. 
No.  ii.     The  initiative  and  referendum:  state  legislation,  by  M. 

A.  Schaffner.     1907. 

No.  12.     The  recall,  by  M.  A.  Schaffner.     1906.    21  p. 
No.  13.     Primary   elections.     The   test   of   party   affiliation,   by 

M.  A.  Schaffner.     1908.     37  p. 
No.  14.     Proportional   representation,   by   R.    E.    Curtis.      1908. 

29  p. 

No.  15.     Juvenile  courts,  by  S.  K.  Hornbeck.    1908.    41  p. 
No.  16.     Telephone    Interchange    of    service,    by    Laura    Scott. 

1908.     20  p. 

No.  17.     Mortgage  taxation,  by  R.  A.  Campbell.     1908.    60  p. 
No.  18.     Municipal   home    rule    charters,    by   M.   A.    Schaffner. 

1908.    38  p. 
No.  19.     Tenement  house  legislation,  state  and  local,  by  F.  H. 

MacGregor.     1909.    70  p. 
No.  20.     Accident  insurance  for  working  men,  by  Reuben  Mc- 

Kitrik.      1909.     70  p. 

351 


• 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

No.  21.     The  initiative  and  referendum  (No.  n,  rev.),  by  C.  H. 

Talbot.     1910.  43  p. 

No.  22.     Certified  public  accountant,  by  Laura  Scott.   1910.   44  p. 
No.  23.     Corrupt  practices  at  elections,  No.  3,  revised  by  S.  G. 

Lowrie.     1911.    86  p. 
No.  24.     State  legislation  concerning  tuberculosis,  by  L.  F.  Tief- 

enthaler.     1911. 
No.  25.     The    initiative    and    referendum:    state    legislation,   by 

C.  H.  Talbot.     1913. 
Legislative  reference  list  No.  i.     State  regulation. 

No.  2.     State  aid  for  roads. 
No.  3.     State  civil  service. 

ARTICLES 

Dodgeon,  M.   S.     The  Wisconsin  legislative  library.     Yale   review, 
•^  Nov.,  1907,  v.  16 :  288-95. 

Flower,  E.  Sounding  the  retreat,  illus.  Harper's  Weekly,  May  I, 
1915,  v.  60:  417-8. 

Massachusetts.  Committee  to  examine  the  Legislative  reference 
bureau  and  bill  drafting  department  of  Wisconsin.  Report  to 
the  governor  of  the  commonwealth  and  the  Board  of  trustees  of 
the  State  library,  of  the  committee  which  recently  visited  Madi- 
son, Wisconsin,  to  examine  the  Legislative  reference  bureau  and 
bill  drafting  department.  [Boston,  1915]  [4]  p. 

Wisconsin.     Free  library  commission.     Legislative  reference  depart- 
ment.    [2d  ed.]     Madison,  Wis.,  1911.     30  p.     (Wisconsin  free 
library  commission,  Madison  .  .  .  Circular  of  information,  No.  6.) 
"References,"  p.  27-28. 
"Publications  of  the  Commission,"  p.  29-30. 

Published  also  in  Massachusetts.  State  library.  Sixth  annual  report 
for  1915.  Boston,  1915,  p.  19-23. 


352 


CHAPTER  XIV 
LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  SERVICES 

United  States:  Library  of  Congress:  Legislative  Refer- 
ence Division.  After  efforts  extending  over  several  years 
there  was  secured  from  Congress  in  1914  an  appropriation: 
"To  enable  the  Librarian  of  Congress  to  employ  competent 
persons  to  prepare  such  indexes,  digests,  and  compilations  of 
law  as  may  be  required  for  Congress  and  other  official  use 
pursuant  to  the  Act  approved  June  30,  1906,  $25,000." 

This  item  has  been  repeated  in  the  appropriation  acts  for 
subsequent  years,  the  language  in  subsequent  years  being 
changed  to  read  as  follows  : 

Legislative  Reference:  To  enable  the  Librarian  of 
Congress  to  employ  competent  persons  to  gather,  classify  and 
make  available  in  translations,  indexes,  digests,  compilations 
and  bulletins,  and  otherwise  data  for  or  bearing  upon  legis- 
lation and  to  render  such  data  serviceable  to  Congress  and 
committees  and  members  thereof,  $25,000. 

In  his  annual  report  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1915, 
the  Librarian  of  Congress,  describing  the  actual  demands  made, 
upon  the  Legislative  Reference  Division  which  he  had  estab- 
lished, said  that  they  might  be  grouped  as  follows :  "For 
digests  or  compilations  of  federal  or  state  statute  or  consti- 
tutional law  on  various  subjects;  for  comparative  studies, 
compilations,  abstracts  or  translations  of  foreign  law  or  de- 
crees on  various  subjects ;  for  compilations  on  certain  ques- 

1  Legislative,  executive  and  judicial  appropriation  act  for  fiscal; 
year  ending  June  30,  1915,  approved  July  16,  1914. 

The  provision  of  law  referred  to  was  the  original  authorization, 
contained  in  the  sundry  civil  appropriation  act,  for  the  preparation 
by  the  Law  Librarian  under  direction  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress, 
of  a  new  index  to  the  Statutes  at  Large,  and  such  other  indexes, 
digests  and  compilations  of  law  as  might  be  required  for  Congress., 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

tions  of  legislative  procedure — domestic  and  foreign;  for 
translations  and  compilations  on  certain  subjects  in  interna- 
tional law;  for  digests  and  compilations  on  powers  of  the  ex- 
ecutive— in  Canada,  France,  and  Germany — over  the  tariff; 
for  statistical  information  on  some  nineteen  subjects,  foreign 
and  domestic;  for  extracts  (furnished  in  the  form  of  photo- 
stat reproductions)  of  various  articles  in  newspapers  or  pe- 
riodicals; for  lists  of  bills  introduced  on  certain  subjects; 
for  memoranda  on  bills  pending,  e.  g.,  the  construction  of 
certain  words  or  phrases,  the  history  of  previous  legislation  on 
the  same  subject,  precedents  from  other  jurisdictions,  or  the 
record  of  subjects  within  the  field  of  two  or  more  commit- 
tees; for  bibliographic  memoranda  on  certain  subjects;  and 
for  reports  or  memoranda  involving  miscellaneous  reference 
work  in  cooperation  with  other  Divisions  of  the  Library." 

The  Librarian  comments  on  the  fact  that  though  the  serv- 
ice as  legalized  contained  no  provision  for  bill  drafting,  some 
requests  for  aid  in  this  respect  were  received  and  informally 
given. 

To  this  division  was  turned  over  the  task  of  continuing 
the  preparation  on  cards  of  an  index  to  the  federal  statutes 
which  had  been  brought  down  through  the  year  1907  in  the 
two  volumes  published  in  1908  and  1911. 

In  his  report  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1916,  the  Li- 
brarian of  Congress  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  pur- 
pose for  which  the  appropriation  for  the  year  had  been  granted 
had  been  broadened  and  made  to  read:  "To  gather,  classify, 
and  make  available,  in  translations,  indexes,  digests,  compila- 
tions, and  bulletins,  and  otherwise,  data  for  or  bearing  upon 
legislation,  and  to  render  such  data  serviceable  to  Congress 
and  committees  and  Members  thereof."  For  these  purposes 
$25,000  was  made  available. 

With  the  extension  of  its  work,  it  became  necessary  to 
organize  a  special  legal  section  of  the  division  to  which  were 
referred — 

i.  The  preparation  of  digests  and  compilations  of  stat- 
utes, statutory  rules  and  orders,  constitutional  provisions  and 
court  decisions  in  any  jurisdiction,  United  States,  state  or  for- 
eign, including  comparative  legislative  studies. 

354 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  SERVICES 

2.  The  preparation  of  briefs  on  the  constitutionality  of 
proposed  legislation  and  on  the  judicial  construction  of  words 
and  phrases  and  other  technical  matters  in  the  text  of  bills 
and  resolutions,  introduced  or  intended  to  be  introduced  in 
Congress. 

3.  Any  indexing  of  the  United  States,  state  and  foreign 
legislation  which  might  be  undertaken  from  time  to  time. 

4.  The  preparation  of  digests  and  compilations  on  inter- 
national law  topics  from  treaties,  conventions,  proceedings  of 
conferences,  and   from  American  and   foreign  international 
law  writers. 

In  his  report  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1916,  the  Li- 
brarian of  Congress  gives  a  detailed  statement  of  the  many 
manuscript  reports  made  under  the  foregoing  heads  upon 
request  of  Members  of  Congress.  An  account  is  also  given 
of  the  compilation  of  United  States  public  land  laws  which 
had  been  ordered  made  during  the  session  of  1914-1915  by 
the  House  Committee  on  Public  Lands,  and  which  was  re- 
ported as  ready  for  publication.1 

In  his  report  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1917,  the  Li- 
brarian of  Congress  states  that  during  the  eighteen  months 
of  its  existence  some  twenty-three  hundred  inquiries  for  in- 
formation by  Members  of  Congress  had  been  received  and 
answered.  He  notes,  however,  that  "in  relatively  few  cases 
are  the  results  of  legislative  reference  made  available  in  their 
original  form  to  a  wider  public.  Some  instances  of  publica- 
tion in  the  Congressional  Record  and  committee  hearings,  or 
separately  as  Senate  documents  and  committee  prints,  have 
been  noted  above.  The  latter  method  presents  the  compila- 
tion or  digest  in  a  form  much  more  convenient  for  use  than 
the  former  plan,  which  buries  it  in  a  mass  of  other  material 
in  which  it  is  difficult  to  find  when  wanted  without  an  exact 
reference  to  the  page  where  it  occurs.  A  more  satisfactory 
arrangement  than  either  of  these  would  be  publication  by  the 
Library  of  Congress  as  separate  legislative  reference  bulle- 

1  Independently  of  this  compilation  is  one  prepared  by  Mr.  J.  W. 
Keener  of  the  General  Land  Office  at  the  order  of  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  Public  Lands, — a  work,  however,  less  complete  and  less 
ambitious  in  scope  than  that  prepared  by  the  Legislative  Reference 
Division. 

355 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

tins.     To  enable  this  to  be  done,  however,  an  addition  to  the 
printing  allotment  would  be  required." 


PUBLICATIONS 

Note:  The  Legislative  reference  division  has  issued  no  publications. 
The  annual  reports  of  its  work  are  to  be  found  in  the  reports 
of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  for  the  years  1915  to  date.  A  num- 
ber of  its  compilations  have  been  ordered  printed  by  Congress  as 
Senate  or  House  documents,  and  others  have  been  incorporated 
in  the  Congressional  record.  A  few  titles  are  listed  below. 

Foreign  legislation  on  the  merchant  marine.  Letter  before  the  Com- 
mittee on  commerce,  United  States  Senate,  Sixty-third  Congress, 
third  session,  transmitting  certain  material  which  the  Legisla- 
tive reference  division  of  the  Library  of  Congress  has  gathered 
relating  to  foreign  legislation  on  the  merchant  marine.  Printed 
for  the  use  of  the  Committee  on  commerce.  Washington,  Govt. 
print,  off.,  1915.  31  p. 

Limitations  on  campaign  expenditures  by  the  political  party  commit- 
tees; also  of  candidates  for  the  offices  of  United  States  senator 
and  representative  in  Congress,  under  state  laws  in  effect  1916. 
Prepared  in  the  Legislative  reference  division,  Library  of  Con- 
gress .  .  .  Washington,  Govt.  print,  off.,  1916.  14  p.  incl.  tables. 
(64th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  Senate  Doc.  640.) 

Absent  voting.  Summary  of  statutes  and  constitutional  provisions 
in  force  in  the  various  states,  November,  1916.  Prepared  in  the 
Legislative  reference  division,  Library  of  Congress  .  .  .  Wash- 
ington, Govt.  print,  off.,  1917.  16  p.  (64th  Cong.,  2d  sess.  Sen- 
ate Doc.  659.) 

Exemption  from  military  service  in  Great  Britain.  Statutory  provi- 
sions and  regulations  relative  to  tribunals  and  certificates  of 
exemption  under  the  military  service  acts,  with  a  digest  of^ap- 
pealed  cases.  Comp.  in  the  Legislative  reference  division, 'Li- 
brary of  Congress  .  .  .  Washington,  Govt.  print,  off.,  1917.  45 
p.  ([U.  S.]  65th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  Senate  Doc.  62.) 

Restriction  on  aliens  in  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy,  Germany,  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, since  the  beginning  of  the  European  war  [comp. 
by  the  Legislative  reference  bureau,  Library  of  Congress.  (In 
U.  S.  Congress.  House  Committee  on  immigration  and  natural- 
ization. Registration  of  aliens.  Hearings  .  .  .  on  H.  R.  20936 
.  .  .  Feb.  28,  1917.  Washington,  1917.  p.  4-18.) 

Trading  with  the  enemy:  an  article  upon  the  measures  adopted  by 
Germany  in  retaliation  for  those  promulgated  by  other  nations, 
by  Theo.  H.  Thiesing  [Legislative  reference  division.  Library 
of  Congress]  .  .  .  Washington,  Govt.  print.,  1917.  7  p.  ([U. 
S.]  65th  Cong.,  ist  sess.  Senate  Doc.  107.) 

Transfer  of  flag.  Extracts  from  the  proceedings  of  the  International 
naval  conference,  London,  1908,  and  of  the  Institute  of  interna- 
tional law,  1882  and  1913.  Tr.  by  the  Legislative  reference  bu- 
reau, Library  of  Congress.  Printed  for  the  use  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  foreign  relations.  Washington,  Govt.  print,  off.,  1915. 
23  P- 

356 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  SERVICES 

Government  control  of  railways  in  Great  Britain.  Memoranda  sub- 
mitted to  the  Committee  on  interstate  commerce,  United  States 
Senate.  Sixty-fifth  Congress,  Second  session  relative  to  the 
government  control  of  railways  in  Great  Britain  in  its  financial 
aspects  and  in  relation  to  railway  employees.  Washington,  Govt. 
print,  off.,  1918.  56  p. 

California:  State  Library:  Legislative  Reference  Depart- 
ment. The  Legislative  Reference  Department  of  the  State 
Library  was  created  in  December,  1904.  There  is  no  spe- 
cific provision  of  law  creating  this  department,  its  creation 
being  effected  under  general  powers  given  the  state  library 
to  create  subordinate  departments.  It  does  not  duplicate  the 
work  of  the  Legislative  Counsel  Bureau,1  which,  while  it  per- 
forms some  of  the  duties  of  a  legislative  reference  bureau, 
is  primarily  a  bill-drafting  service. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.  i.  Hints  on  drawing  legislative  bills.  Dec.  I,  1908. 
12  p. 

Bulletin  No.  2.  River  improvement  laws  in  other  states  and  coun- 
tries. Dec.  29,  1908.  29  p. 

Connecticut:  State  Library:  Legislative  Reference  De- 
partment. The  legislative  reference  work  of  the  Connecticut 
State  Library  is  one  of  the  functions  of  the  state  librarian. 
There  has  been  no  special  act  creating  a  legislative  refer- 
ence department  other  than  by  making  a  special  appropria- 
tion of  $5,000  biennially  since  1907,  at  which  time  the  state 
library  work  was  especially  increased  along  this  line.  The 
legislative  reference  work  has  been  conducted  since  that  time 
by  the  state  librarian  and  a  number  of  trained  assistants.  It 
is  a  reference  library  not  only  for  legislators  but  also  for  the 
Supreme  Court,  state  officers  and  the  several  state  depart- 
ments. 

The  special  work  done  in  the  Legislative  Reference  De- 
partment consists  of  maintaining  a  well-classified  and  very 
full  collection  of  official  reports  and  treatises  upon  the  vari- 
ous topics  before  the  several  General  Assemblies,  made  ac- 
cessible through  a  complete  card  catalogue.  In  addition  to 

1  See  p.  329. 

357 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

the  printed  material  which  is  secured  from  all  sections  of  the 
country  and  from  foreign  countries,  the  department  main- 
tains a  file  of  the  printed  bills  from  about  twenty-five  states, 
showing  the  proposed  legislation  in  those  states. 

The  department  makes  and  maintains  a  photostat  copy 
of  every  bill,  resolution  and  petition  introduced  into  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly.  As  no  bills  are  printed  in  Connecticut  until 
favorably  reported  by  the  committees  to  which  they  have  been 
referred,  the  photostat  copies,  made  almost  immediately  when 
introduced,  are  invaluable.  The  library  maintains  a  series  of 
cards  covering  each  such  bill,  resolution  and  petition,  show- 
ing its  number,  when  and  by  whom  introduced,  to  what  com- 
mittee referred,  when  hearings  were  advertised,  when  and 
what  report  was  made  upon  it,  action  in  each  house  and,  if 
passed,  when  signed  by  the  Governor  and  its  position  in  the 
public  or  special  laws.  Another  set  of  cards  shows  the  several 
sections  of  the  Connecticut  revised  statutes.  Whenever  these 
sections  are  amended  or  repealed,  this  additional  information 
is  entered  on  a  card  which  is  filed  with  the  main  card.  Thus 
the  material  for  a  revision  of  the  statutes  is  always  at  hand. 

Transcripts  of  the  stenographers'  notes  at  the  hearings 
held  before  the  several  committees  are  kept  on  file.  These 
transcripts,  after  each  session,  are  thoroughly  indexed  and  are 
bound,  thus  making  accessible  to  future  General  Assemblies 
and  to  judges  of  the  courts,  the  intention  and  purpose  of  each 
bill  as  advocated  at  these  hearings. 

Special  reference  lists  upon  various  topics  and  special  in- 
vestigations along  definite  lines  are  made  from  time  to  time 
when  requested  by  state  officials. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.  I.  List  of  references  to  material  on  employer's  lia- 
bility and  workmen's  compensation.  1913.  27  p. 

Report's 

Report  on  legislative  reference  work.  (In  Connecticut  state  library. 
Report  of  the  state  librarian  to  the  Governor,  1909.  Hartford, 
I9i3-date.) 

Georgia:  State  Library:  Legislative  Reference  Depart- 
ment. A  Legislative  Reference  Department  in  connection 

358 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  SERVICES 

with  the  State  Library,  was  created  by  an  act  approved  August 
12,  1914.  *  Its  object,  as  expressed  in  the  act,  is :  "To  gather 
and  make  available  such  information  as  shall  aid  the  members 
of  the  legislature  and  the  several  state  departments  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duties  and  to  serve  such  other  citizens  as  may 
desire  to  consult  them."  The  duties  prescribed  are  to  "col- 
lect, arrange,  classify  and  index  books,  pamphlets  and  other 
material  relating  to  legislation;  .  .  .  prepare  abstracts  of 
laws  of  other  states  and  countries,  and  .  .  .  make  such  in- 
dexes of  the  legislative  and  administrative  records  of  this 
state  both  current  and  past,  as  to  make  access  and  reference 
thereto  easy  and  sure." 

Reports 

Reports  for  I9i5-date.     (In  Georgia.     State  library.    Annual  report, 
I9i5-date.) 

Iowa:  State  Library:  Law  and  Legislative  Reference 
Department.  A  Legislative  Reference  Department  is  in 
operation  in  connection  with  the  State  Library.  Section  288  ic, 
chapter  17,  of  the  supplement  to  the  code  1913  has  the  follow- 
ing provision :  "There  shall  be  annually  appropriated  .  .  . 
the  sum  of  six  thousand  dollars  for  the  use  of  the  law  depart- 
ment and  legislative  reference  bureau."  Provision  is  also 
made  for  "one  legislative  and  general  reference  assistant  who 
shall  be  under  the  direction  of  the  assistant  to  the  State  Libra- 


rian." 


PUBLICATIONS 


Selected  list  of   references  on  the  valuation  of  public  service  cor- 
porations. 

Maine:    State    Library:    Legislative    Reference  Bureau. 

Early  in  1916  the  state  librarian  was  authorized  by  the  Gov- 
ernor and  council  to  employ  a  legislative  reference  clerk,  but 
no  special  appropriation  or  authorization  was  made  therefor. 
On  March  29,  1917,  however,  an  act  was  approved  2  au- 
thorizing the  state  librarian  "to  establish  in  the  state  library  a 

1  Georgia,  Acts,  1914,  No.  397,  p.  137. 
a  Maine,  Acts,  1917,  p.  97. 

359 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

legislative  reference  bureau  which  shall  collect,  arrange  and 
place  on  file  books,  pamphlets  and  other  material  relating  to 
legislation,  shall  prepare  abstracts  of  laws  in  other  states  and 
present  such  other  information  as  may  be  useful  and  necessary 
to  the  legislature."  It  authorizes  the  state  librarian  to  employ 
such  assistance  and  incur  such  expense  as  may  be  necessary 
for  the  proper  administration  of  the  bureau. 

Massachusetts:  State  Library:  Legislative  Reference  De- 
partment. Since  1892  provision  has  been  made  in  the  appro- 
priation acts  for  the  State  Library  "for  preparing  an  index 
to  current  events  and  such  other  matters  contained  in  the 
newspapers  of  the  day,  as  may  be  deemed  important  by  the 
trustees  and  librarian."  In  an  appropriation  act  of  19 IO,1  pro- 
vision was  made  for  a  "card  index  of  comparative  legislation." 
By  this  provision  and  the  initiative  of  the  state  librarian  a  Leg- 
islative Reference  Department  has  been  built  up  in  the  State 
Library,  although  no  specific  legislative  provision  has  been 
made  for  such  an  agency.  In  the  reference  department, 
which  is  under  the  immediate  direction  of  a  reference  assistant, 
the  activities  are  such  that  in  the  course  of  legislative  ses- 
sions it  is  not  infrequently  the  case  that  all  members  of  the 
regular  state  library  staff  are  busy  in  research  work  and  in 
answering  questions  of  a  legislative  character.  The  depart- 
ment keeps  up  to  date  a  current  periodical  card  index,  a  cur- 
rent events  index  to  the  newspapers,  an  index  to  the  Gover- 
nors' messages  and  a  card  catalogue  of  Massachusetts  leg- 
islators. These  are  in  constant  use.  The  library  is  rich  in  its 
collections  of  material  in  the  field  of  legislation.  A  recata- 
loging  of  the  State  Library  is  now  in  progress. 

New  Jersey :  State  Library :  Legislative  Reference  Depart- 
ment. The  legislative  reference  service  in  New  Jersey  is  fur- 
nished by  a  department  of  the  State  Library.  An  act  approved 
March  18,  I9H,2  provides  that:  "It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
State  Librarian  to  collect  and  keep  constantly  up  to  date 
.  .  .  such  information  and  material  as  will  furnish  the  full- 
est information  practicable  upon  all  matters  pertaining  to  cur- 

1  Massachusetts,  Acts,  1910,  Ch.  75. 
*  New  Jersey,  Acts,  1914,  Ch.  29,  p.  44. 

360 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  SERVICES 

rent  or  proposed  legislation  or  any  legislative  or  administra- 
tive problems,  and  to  prepare  and  submit  digests  of  such  in- 
formation and  material  upon  request  of  any  legislative  com- 
mittee or  any  member  of  the  Legislature. " 

PUBLICATIONS 

Descriptive  list  of  laws  and  joint  resolutions  enacted  by  the  state  of 
New  Jersey,  legislative  session,  1917.  Comp.  by  John  P.  Dullard, 
state  librarian.  Union  Hill,  N.  J.,  Hudson  printing  company, 
1917.  16  p. 

Prepared  by  the  Legislative  reference  department  of  the  New  Jer- 
sey state  library,  cf.  p.  [2]. 

New  York :  State  Library :  Legislative  Reference  Section. 

In  New  York  State  there  is  a  Legislative  Reference  Section 
of  the  State  Library,  and  a  legislative  library  in  the  Capitol. 
The  Legislative  Reference  Section  of  the  State  Library  was 
established  in  1890  by  an  order  of  the  director  of  the  State 
Library,  and  is,  therefore,  the  oldest  legislative  reference 
service  in  the  United  States.  Its  work  is  conducted  as  a  part 
of  the  activities  of  the  State  Library,  and  it  has  a  staff  subject 
to  the  supervision  of  the  director  of  the  State  Library.  It 
performs  legislative  reference  work  for  legislators,  state  and 
government  departments,  officers  and  students.  Among  its 
activities  are  the  indexing  and  editing  of  the  official  edition 
of  the  New  York  session  laws;  the  preparation  of  legis- 
lative bulletins;  the  receiving,  checking,  cataloging  and  shelv- 
ing or  filing  of  state,  municipal,  federal  and  foreign  docu- 
ments and  other  material.  A  very  considerable  part  of  the 
activities  of  the  section  consists  of  research  work  and  the 
preparation  of  special  memoranda  for  legislators,  state  offi- 
cers and  other  important  organizations. 

In  addition  to  this  library  the  state  maintains,  as  a  dis- 
trict organization,  a  bill-drafting  service,  account  of  which 
is  given  in  the  following  chapter.1 

1  See  p.  366. 


361 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 


PUBLICATIONS 

Legislative  bulletins.1    Albany,  1891 — 

While  these  bulletins  bear  a  single  series  of  serial  numbers  ac- 
cording to  date  of  publication,  most  of  them  fall  into  several  distinct 
series,  as  follows: 

Comparative  summary  and  index  of  state  legislation 

No.     i,  1890,  p.  1-84  No.  15,   1901,  p.  813-1232 

No.     2,  1891,  p.  85-226  No.  1 8,  1902,  p.  413-696 

No.     3,  1892,  p.  227-294  No.  21,  1903,  p.  267-774 

No.     4,  1893,  p.  295-452  No.  24,   1904,  p. 

No.     5,  1894,  p.  453-550 

Legislation  by  states 

No.     6,  1895,  P-  I-3I2  No.  10,  1898,  p.  739-912 

No.     7,  1896,  p.  313-426  No.  11,  1899,  p.  1-398 

No.    9,  1897,  p.  485-738  No.  13,  1900,  p.  439-614 

Review  of  legislation 

No.  16,  1901,  p.  1-250  No.  29,  1905,  334  p. 

No.  19,  1902,  p.  697-912  No.  33,  1906,  249  p. 

No.  22,  1903,  No.  39,  1907-8,  475  p. 

No.  25,  1904, 

Index  of  legislation 

No.  28,  1905  No.  36,  1907 

No.  32,  1906  No.  38,  1908,  264  p. 

Digest  of  governors'  messages 

No.  17,  1902,  p.  251-412  No.  31,  1906,  79  p. 

No.  20,  1903,  p.  1-266  No.  35,  1907 

No.  23,  1904  No.  37,  1908 

No.  27,  1905 

The  following  numbers  do  not  fall  within  any  of  the  above  series : 

No.     8.     State  finance  statistics,  1890  and  1895.     p.  427-82. 

No.  12.  Trend  of  legislation  in  the  United  States,  by  R.  H.  Whit- 
ten.  1900.  p.  399-438- 

No.  14.  Taxation  of  corporations  in  New  York,  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  by  R.  H.  Whitten.  1901. 
p.  615-812. 

No.  26.  Index  of  Governors'  messages,  1777-1901,  by  M.  G.  Wyer 
and  C.  E.  Grover. 

No.  30.  Legislative  reference  lists.  1906.  39  p.  [Lists  on  life  in- 
surance, direct  nominations,  employment  of  blind  and 
inheritance  tax.] 

No.  34.  A  summary  of  the  compulsory  attendance  and  child  labor 
laws  of  the  states  and  territories  of  the  United  States. 
1907.  112  p. 

1  Beginning  with  No.  20  (1903)  the  three  or  more  bulletins  of 
each  year  are  also  issued  in  one  volume  under  title  Yearbook  of 
Legislation. 

362 


LEGISLATIVE  REFERENCE  SERVICES 

No.  40.     American    ballot    laws,    i888-iqio,    by    A.    C.    Luddington. 

1911.    220  p. 
No.  41.     Mothers'  pension  legislation  in  New  York  and  other  states, 

by  W.  E.  Hannan.     1916.    41  p.  fold,  table. 
No.  42.     Property   exempt   from  taxation   in  the   forty-eight   states, 

by  W.  E.  Hannan.     1916.    239  p. 

Partial  list  of  questions  that  were  submitted  to  the  Legislative  ref- 
erence section  of  the  State  library  and  upon  which  investiga- 
tions were  conducted  and  data  prepared  for  various  members  of 
the  legislative  session  of  1917.  [Albany]  1918.  8  p. 
Licensing  and  regulation  of  bill  board  or  outdoor  advertising.  Al- 
bany, 1918.  19  p. 

Ordinances   regulating  the   dimming  of  headlights   in   cities   of  the 
United  States.     1918.     37  p. 

New  York:  Legislative  Library.  The  Legislative  Library 
at  the  Capitol  is  organized  by  virtue  of  an  act  approved  May 
3,  19 is,1  as  amended  by  an  act  approved  June  i,  19 17-2  Its 
principal  function  is  the  collection  of  documents  and  laws  of 
New  York  State.  It  does  no  research  work. 


Oregon:  State  Library.  In  Oregon  no  specific  provision 
has  been  made  for  a  legislative  reference  bureau,  but  since 
1913  the  state  librarian  is  required  by  law  to  render  such 
service.  The  Oregon  State  Library,  however,  had  been  per- 
forming legislative  reference  work  since  1905  without  special 
authorization.  An  act  approved  February  25,  I9I3,3  relating 
to  the  State  Library  provides,  among  other  duties  of  the  state 
librarian,  that  he  shall  "collect  and  index  those  public  docu- 
ments which  shall  be  of  service  to  state  boards,  officials,  and 
commissioners,  and  for  reference  work  for  the  members  of 
the  legislature  for  investigation  of  public  questions."  No 
specific  mention  is  made  of  a  legislative  reference  bureau. 
The  Oregon  State  Library  has  done  legislative  reference 
work  since  1905,  although  it  has  no  separate  department  for 
this  purpose. 

Texas  State  Library :  Legislative  Reference  Section.    An 

act  of  March  19,  1909,*  creating  the  Texas  Library  and  His- 

1  New  York,  Acts,  1915,  Ch.  483,  p.  1447. 

2  New  York,  Acts,  1917,  Ch.  715,  p.  2309. 
'Oregon,  Acts,  1913,  Ch.  149,  p.  263. 

4  Texas,  Acts,  1909,  Ch.  70,  p.  126. 

363 


•  EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

tory  Commission  provided  for  a  Legislative  Reference  Section, 
making  the  usual  provisions  respecting  the  materials  to  be 
collected,  indexed  and  classified  and  providing  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  an  assistant  librarian  to  conduct  the  work  of 
the  section.  It  also  provided  that  this  assistant  librarian  "shall 
give  the  members  of  the  legislature  such  aid  and  assistance  in 
the  drafting  of  bills  and  resolutions  as  may  be  asked." 

The  legislature  of  1911  cut  out  the  appropriation  for  the 
salary  of  this  assistant  librarian,  and  until  the  session  of  1915 
no  such  appropriation  was  made.  The  work  was  continued 
nevertheless.  In  1913  a  representative  of  the  University  of 
Texas  took  charge  of  the  work,  and  in  1915  the  library  used 
a  stenographer's  salary  to  pay  for  an  assistant  to  do  the  leg- 
islative reference  work.  The  legislature  of  1915  made  appro- 
priations for  the  salary  of  a  legislative  reference  librarian 
and  for  conducting  the  work.  The  legislature  of  1917  cut  out 
the  latter  but  made  a  salary  appropriation. 

Owing  to  lack  of  funds  very  little  bill  drafting  has  been 
attempted  and  none  will  be  undertaken  for  the  legislature  of 
1919. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Bulletin  No.  i.    Finding  list  of  books  prepared  by  J.  B.  Kaiser.    1911. 

5i  P- 

Bulletin  No.  2.  Subject  index  to  the  bills  and  resolutions  of  the  reg- 
ular session  of  the  thirty-fourth  Legislature,  prepared  by  J.  F. 
Marron.  [1915] 

The  legislative  reference  bureau  as  a  bill  revising  agency,  by  J.  F. 
Marron,  .  .  .  [Austin?  1916]     [10]  p. 
Prepared   for  the   Conference  on  bill   drafting  at   Washington, 

December  31,  1915. 
Reprinted  from  Special  libraries,  March,   1916. 


364 


CHAPTER  XV 
BILL-DRAFTING  SERVICES 

Connecticut.  In  Connecticut  the  bill-drafting  service  is  per- 
formed by  the  clerk  of  bills,  an  officer  of  the  General  As- 
sembly. An  act  approved  January  22,  iQOi,1  provides  that 
"the  clerk  of  bills  shall  assist  members  of  the  General  As- 
sembly in  drafting  bills  for  public  acts  and  resolutions  of  a 
public  nature,  and  prepare  amendments  to  or  substitutes  for 
bills  or  resolutions  at  the  request  of  committees.  Every  bill 
or  resolution  favorably  acted  upon  by  any  committee  of  the 
General  Assembly  shall,  before  being  reported  to  either 
branch  thereof,  be  first  submitted  to  the  clerk  of  bills,  who 
shall  examine  such  bill  or  resolution,  in  respect  to  its  form, 
for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  repetitions  and  unconstitutional 
provisions,  and  insuring  accuracy  in  text  and  references, 
clearness  and  conciseness  in  the  phraseology  and  to  the  con- 
sistency of  statutes.  He  shall  return  to  the  committee  sub- 
mitting it  any  bill  or  resolution  that  is  not  in  correct  form 
with  such  corrections  as  he  may  propose  in  the  form  of  a 
substitute  or  as  amendments." 

The  clerk  of  bills,  and  the  engrossing  clerk,  who  super- 
vises the  printing  and  engrossing  of  bills  and  advises  the  Com- 
mittee on  Engrossed  Bills  of  needed  corrections,  are  elected 
at  the  beginning  of  each  session  by  the  Joint  Committee  on 
Judiciary  and  on  Engrossed  Bills  acting  jointly.  In  practice, 
a  regular  succession  has  been  established  as  the  normal  arrange- 
ment. The  assistant  clerk  of  the  House  is  promoted  to  be 
clerk  of  the  House  at  the  next  session,  and  becomes  clerk  of 
the  Senate  two  years  later.  At  the  following  session  he  is 
elected  clerk  of  bills,  and  two  years  later,  engrossing  clerk. 
This  succession  may  be  interrupted  by  political  changes.  In 
the  last  four  biennial  messages  the  governors  have  strongly 

1  Connecticut,  Acts,  1901,  Ch.  i,  Sec.  2,  3,  4. 

365 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

urged  that  the  position  of  clerk  of  bills  be  made  permanent, 
and  that  the  best  available  draftsmen  should  be  procured  for 
the  position,  but  the  legislature  has  not  yet  taken  such  action. 

Massachusetts.  Assistance  in  the  drafting  of  bills  to  mem- 
bers and  others  is  provided  for  by  the  Committee  on  Rules  of 
each  branch  of  the  General  Court.  In  the  Senate,  rules  20 
,'ind  21  provide  that  the  committee  shall  examine  all  bills,  etc., 
intended  for  introduction  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining: 
( i )  whether  the  legislation  proposed  is  plainly  and  specifi- 
cally stated  or  already  provided  for;  (2)  whether  such  bills, 
etc.,  are  in  proper  form;  and  (3)  that  compliance  has  been 
had  with  the  rules  of  the  Senate  and  the  joint  rules  of  the 
two  branches.  But  the  committee  ''shall  make  no  change  in 
the  substance  or  form  of  any  matter  referred  to  them  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  member  depositing  the  same."  Rule 
33  provides  that  "bills  and  resolves  when  ordered  to  a  third 
reading,  shall  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Bills  in  the 
Third  Reading,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  examine  and  correct 
them,  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  repetitions  and  unconsti- 
tutional provisions,  and  of  insuring  accuracy  in  the  text  and 
references  and  consistency  with  the  languag'e  of  existing 
statutes ;  but  in  any  change  in  the  sense  or  legal  effect,  or  any 
material  change  in  construction,  shall  be  reported  to  the  Sen- 
ate as  an  amendment."  At  the  beginning  of  each  session  an 
order  is  adopted :  "That  the  Committee  on  Rules  be  authorized 
to  employ  clerical  assistance."  A  similar  arrangement  exists 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  with  the  difference  that  the 
duties  assigned  to  the  Committee  on  Rules  are  specified  in  the 
order  adopted  at  the  beginning  of  each  session  and  not  in  the 
rules  of  the  House. 

New  York.  The  bill-drafting  service  in  New  York  State  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  Legislative  Bill  Drafting  Commission  con- 
sisting of  three  commissioners  appointed  by  the  temporary 
President  of  the  Senate  and  the  Speaker  of  the  General  As- 
sembly. The  office  of  the  commission  is  at  the  State  Capitol 
and  is  required  to  be  open  from  September  i  to  the  close  of 
the  session.  The  duties  prescribed  in  the  legislative  act  of 

366 


BILL-DRAFTING  SERVICES 

February  17,  1909,*  as  amended  by  acts  approved  December 
12,  IQI3,2  and  March  9,  I9i6,3  are:  "i.  To  maintain  an  office 
in  the  state  capitol  .  .  .  which  shall  be  open  from  Sep- 
tember i  to  the  close  of  the  annual  legislative  session,  and 
for  such  further  time  as  the  temporary  president  of  the  Sen- 
ate and  the  speaker  of  the  assembly  shall  direct.  2.  Draft  or 
aid  in  drafting  legislative  bills  and  resolutions  and  amend- 
ments thereto  upon  the  request  of  a  member  or  committee  of 
the  legislature  or  of  a  state  department,  commission,  board 
or  officer.  3.  Advise  as  to  constitutionality,  consistency  or 
effect  of  proposed  legislation,  upon  request  of  a  member  or 
committee  of  the  legislature.  4.  Make  researches  and  ex- 
aminations as  to  any  subjects  or  proposed  legislation  upon  re- 
quest of  either  house  or  of  a  committee  of  the  legislature. 
5.  Examine  the  general  laws  and  report  to  the  legislature 
such  amendments  to  the  consolidated  lawrs  as  the  commission 
deems  advisable  for  the  purpose  of  including  therein  indepen- 
dent general  statutes." 

An  act  approved  May  3,  1917,*  provides  for  the  prepara- 
tion, by  the  Bill  Drafting  Commission,  of  an  index  of  statutes 
and  makes  appropriation  therefor. 

Account  has  already  been  given  of  the  legislative  reference 
libraries  maintained  by  New  York  State.5 

New  York:  Columbia  University:  Legislative  Drafting 
Bureau.8  The  Legislative  Drafting  Research  Fund  was  or- 
ganized at  Columbia  University  in  the  spring  of  1911  follow- 
ing the  acceptance  by  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  university 
of  a  proposal  to  donate  not  less  than  $15,000  annually  for 
five  years  for  research  work  in  legislation  and  public  adminis- 

1  New  York,  Consolidated  Laws,  1909,  Ch.  37,  Sec.  24. 
a  New  York,  Acts,  1913,  Ch.  812,  p.  2273. 
*  New  York,  Acts,  1916,  Ch.  32,  p.  55. 

4  New  York,  Acts,  1917,  Ch.  332,  p.  1114. 

5  See  p.  361. 

6  This  is  a  reproduction  of  an  article  published  in  Columbia  Alumni 
News,  November  26,   1915,  by  Dr.   Thomas   I.   Parkinson,   Director 
of  the  Legislative  Drafting  Bureau.     Since  this  article  was  written 
the  fund  has  continued  the  preparation  for  the  American  Bar  Asso- 
ciation of  its  annual   review   of  legislation   and  has  been  active  in 
aiding  public  and  private  organizations  in  the  preparation-  and  draft- 
ing of  legislation. 

367 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

tration.1  Seven  men,  all  law  school  graduates,  are  devoting 
their  entire  time  to  the  work,  which  is  conducted  under  the 
supervision  of  an  administrative  board  consisting  of  John 
Bassett  Moore,  chairman;  Harlan  F.  Stone,  Dean  of  the  Law 
School,  and  Joseph  P.  Chamberlain. 

The  primary  purpose  of  the  fund  is  research  in  legislation 
and  administration.  This  involves  the  study  of  technical  legal 
problems  such  as  constitutional  limitations  on  legislative 
power,  the  rules  for  construction  of  statutes  and  the  force 
and  effect  of  the  existing  statute  or  common  law  which  it  is 
proposed  to  limit  or  extend  by  new  legislation.  It  involves 
also  the  study  of  administrative  organization  and  procedure  as 
a  basis  for  determining  the  best  means  of  providing  for  the 
enforcement  of  a  proposed  statute  and  the  extent  to  which 
provision  for  its  enforcement  should  be  written  into  the 
statute  rather  than  left  to  the  discretion  of  administrative 
officials.  In  order  that  its  research  work  might  be  kept  close 
to  practical  problems,  the  officers  of  the  fund  have  been  glad  of 
opportunities  to  render  technical  assistance  in  the  preparation 
of  legislative  bills  for  legislators,  other  public  agencies,  or  pri- 
vate organizations  seeking  reforms  through  legislation. 

The  determination  of  the  wisdom  of  the  policies  under- 
lying proposed  legislation  and  propaganda  for  its  enactment 
are  left  entirely  to  its  proponents.  The  particular  work  of 
the  fund  consists  solely  in  trying  to  translate  propositions  of 
legislation  into  effective  statutes.  This  is  not  so  narrow  a 
field  as  one  might  assume.  The  drafting  of  legislation  in- 
volves much  more  than  matters  of  form,  such  as  style,  ar- 
rangement and  choice  of  words.  It  involves  appreciation  of 
the  conditions  which  it  is  desired  to  regulate,  the  means  by 
which  the  purpose  of  the  regulation  can  be  best  accomplished, 
the  administrative  organization,  powers,  duties  and  pro- 
cedures which  are  best  suited  to  the  effective  enforcement  of 
the  proposed  regulation;  and  the  adjustment  of  the  pro- 
posed legislative'  and'  administrative  scheme  to  existing 
constitutions,  statutes  and  administrative  organizations.  In. 

1Wli*en  the  five  years  expired,  the  donation  was  extended  for 
another  period  of  five  years.  In  the  summer  of  1917  a  chair  of  legis- 
lation was  created  and  the  income  of  the  fund,  was  reduced'  by  the. 
amcaant  at  the  endowment  ai  the  chair. 

368 


BILL-DRAFTING  SERVICES 

addition  to  the  legal  research  which  this  work  naturally  sug- 
gests, there  is  also  involved  the  hardly  less  important  research 
in  administration  to  discover  processes  and  devices  likely  to 
result  in  economical  and  efficient  enforcement  of  proposed 
statutory  provisions,  and  the  investigation  of  economic  and 
social  conditions  to  discover  the  essential  characteristics  and 
scope  of  the  evil  requiring  legislative  remedy,  and  the  precise 
nature  and  extent  of  the  remedy  needed. 

A  few  examples  will  indicate  the  general  nature  of  the 
work  being  done  and  the  way  in  which  its  results  have  been 
utilized  by  public  officials  and  semi-public  organizations. 

A  complete  revision  of  the  substantive  and  enforcement 
provisions  of  the  New  York  labor  laws  was  prepared  at  the 
request  of  a  legislative  investigating  commission.  This  re- 
vision was  published  with  annotations  explaining  in  minute 
detail  proposed  changes  and  the  reasons  therefor. 

An  index  digest  of  the  provisions  of  all  the  state  constitu- 
tions as  in  force  January  i,  1915,  was  prepared  at  the  request 
of  the  commission  to  prepare  for  the  recent  constitutional 
convention.  The  work  was  done  under  great  pressure  in 
order  to  have  it  ready  for  the  use  of  the  convention.  A  limited 
number  of  copies  were  printed  by  the  state,  which,  after  the 
needs  of  the  delegates  had  been  supplied,  were  distributed  to 
libraries  and  educational  institutions.  It  is  copyrighted  in  the 
name  of  Columbia  University. 

In  cooperation  with  committees  of  the  American  Bar 
Association  members  of  the  staff  have  prepared  ( i )  a  review 
of  all  general  legislation  enacted  by  Congress  and  the  several 
state  legislatures  at  the  1915  sessions,  and  (2)  memoranda 
for  the  guidance  of  draftsmen  of  legislation  which  will  ulti- 
mately form  part  of  a  proposed  manual  of  instructions  to 
draftsmen  and  model  clauses  for  the  solution  of  constantly 
recurring  legislative  problems.  They  have  cooperated  simi- 
larly with  the  committees  of  the  conference  of  commissioners 
on  uniform  state  laws  with  the  result  that  these  bodies  have 
had  the  advantage  of  more  detailed  legal  work  than  they 
could  otherwise  have  secured,  and  the  fund's  staff  has  had  the 
benefit  of  the  experience  involved  in  this  work. 

Among  the  bills  dealing  with  particular  problems  which  the 

369 


EFFORTS  FOR  ADMINISTRATIVE  REFORM 

fund  has  been  called  upon  to  draft  or  revise  are  ( i )  bills  to 
carry  out  the  recommendations  of  the  Senate  committee  which 
investigated  the  Titanic  disaster,  (2)  the  workmen's  compen- 
sation bill  recommended  to  Congress  by  the  Sutherland  Com- 
mission, President  Taft's  executive  order  putting  into  force 
a  workman's  compensation  system  for  government  employees 
on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  the  existing  New  York  con- 
stitutional amendment  authorizing  workmen's  compensation 
laws,  (3)  the  bill  reorganizing  the  New  York  State  tax  de- 
partment adopted  this  year,  (4)  the  bill  creating  a  New  York 
industrial  commission  and  merging  in  it  the  administration 
of  the  labor  laws  and  the  workmen's  compensation  laws. 

In  numerous  instances  it  has  rendered  technical  assistance 
on  legal  and  administrative  problems  involved  in  the  program 
of  various  semi-public  organizations  engaged  in  reform  work 
requiring  remedial  legislation.  In  this  work  the  effort  is  not 
to  secure  the  desired  reform,  but  to  see  that  the  legislation 
providing  for  it  accomplishes  its  purpose  effectively  with- 
out necessarily  disturbing  related  principles  of  law  or  admin- 
istrative organizations.  Drafting  work  has  not  been  limited 
either  to  New  York  legislation  or  to  Congressional  legislation. 
Not  only  have  bills  been  drafted  for  other  states,  but  the 
fund  is  constantly  cooperating  with  public  drafting  agencies 
throughout  the  country  in  an  effort  to  increase  the  effective- 
ness of  their  work  for  the  improvement  of  the  statute  law. 
A  plan  is  now  being  considered  under  which  the  material  and 
experience  of  the  fund  may  be  put  at  the  service  of  members 
or  committees  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

In  conducting  their  research  work,  as  well  as  in  dealing 
with  practical  problems,  the  members  of  the  staff  have  not 
only  gained  valuable  experience,  but  have  also  gathered  a 
store  of  material  dealing  with  problems  of  political  science 
which  should  in  future  be  useful  to  the  university.  Much  is 
being  said  and  written  about  university  training  for  the  public 
service.  The  first  requisite  of  more  practical  training  in 
political  science,  so  far  as  a  university  can  give  such  training, 
is  accurate  and  detailed  data  on  the  organization,  powers  and 
procedure  of  public  agencies  entrusted  with  the  administra- 
tion of  public  functions,  whether  federal,  state  or  municipal. 

370 


BILL-DRAFTING  SERVICES 

Materials  of  this  sort  are  being  gradually  accumulated  and 
indexed  in  the  expectation  that  the  work  of  the  fund  will 
substantially  contribute  to  the  effectiveness  of  instruction  in 
the  subjects  with  which  its  activities  are  concerned. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Index  digest  of  state  constitutions,  prepared  for  the  New  York  state 
constitutional  convention  commission,  by  the  Legislative  drafting 
research  fund  of  Columbia  university.  [Albany?]  New  York 
state  constitutional  convention  commission,  1915..  vii,  1546  p. 

Wyoming.  In  Wyoming,  a  Bill  Drafting  Committee  was 
created  as  the  result  of  an  appropriation  act  approved  Feb- 
ruary 24,  I9I7,1  which  contained  the  item  entitled  "Compen- 
sation, Bill  Drafting  Committee,"  and  made  appropriation 
"for  services  rendered  to  members  of  both  branches  of  the  Leg- 
islature, and  its  committees,  during  the  session,  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  bills,  resolutions  and  amendments  thereto,  examining 
and  revising  proposed  bills,  advising  as  to  the  effect  thereof 
on  existing  laws  and  pending  measures/'  The  amount  of  the 
appropriation  indicates  that  the  members  of  the  Bill  Draft- 
ing Committee  are  expected  to  devote  but  a  small  part  of  their 
time  to  this  service. 

Other  States.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  but 
few  states  have  made  provision  for  separate  services  to  per- 
form the  functions  of  assisting  members  of  the  legislature  in 
drafting  bills.  A  very  considerable  number,  however,  have,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  entrusted  this  duty  to  their  legislative 
reference  department.  In  a  number  of  states,  moreover,  such 
as  Oregon  and  Washington,  the  office  of  the  attorney  general 
renders  assistance  of  this  kind.  New  Jersey,  by  an  act  passed 
in  1914,  provided  for  the  appointment  of  an  assistant  attorney 
general  to  act  as  a  legislative  advisor  and  bill  examiner,  but 
this  act  was  repealed  in  1917. 


s  act  was  repealed  m  1917. 

1  Wyoming,  Acts,  1917,  Sec.  55,  Ch.  125,  p.  232. 


371 


INDEX 


Accident  insurance,  351. 

Accounting  (county),  Alameda 
Co.,  Cal.,  277;  Westchester 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  275;  improved  sys- 
tem of  for  Cuyahoga  County, 
O.,  1 68. 

Accounting  (municipal),  189; 
Akron,  168,  250,  252;  Balti- 
more, 171;  Chicago,  204;  Cin- 
cinnati, 221;  Columbus,  168; 
Dayton,  234;  Milwaukee,  239; 
Minneapolis,  244;  New  York 
City,  1 80;  Philadelphia,  216; 
Rochester,  262 ;  Springfield, 
Mass.,  249,  312;  Toledo,  168, 
267;  Toronto,  256;  Yonkers, 
268;  improved  system  of,  for 
Cleveland  Associated  Chari- 
ties, 168;  for  Cleveland  Feder- 
ation for  Charity  and  Philan- 
thropy, 168;  borough  presi- 
dent's office,  New  York  City, 
208;  police  courts,  New  York 
City,  209;  office  of  coroner, 
New  York  City,  209;  bureau 
of  school  supplies,  New  York 
City,  210. 

Accounting  (state),  California, 
288;  Illinois,  137,  140,  143; 
Kansas,  150;  New  York,  187; 
in  appeal  tax  court  and  collec- 
tor's office,  Maryland,  171. 

Accounting  department,  Denver, 
258,  260;  New  Jersey,  116,  119; 
Ohio,  168,  170;  U.  S.  Treasury, 
92,  96. 

Accounting  (U.  S.  Government), 
history,  96;  purpose,  102;  Bu- 
reau of  Indian  Affairs,  107- 
108,  112;  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment, 69,  71 ;  Treasury,  69,  71, 
72;  by  disbursing  and  collect- 
ing officers  of  U.  S.,  76,  82. 

Accounts,  analysis  of,   100;  sug- 


gestions for  developing  uni- 
form system  of  controlling, 
100;  disbursing  officers,  meth- 
ods of  examining  and  auditing, 
no. 

Adjutant  General's  Office,  busi- 
ness methods  of,  98. 

Administrative  control,  organs 
of,  in  states,  283-300;  in  cities, 
301-308. 

Agricultural  agencies,  Illinois, 
136,  142,  143;  Kansas,  150; 
other  states  and  countries, 

143. 

Agricultural  settlement,  Wiscon- 
sin, 290. 

Agriculture,  Department  of,  Ala- 
bama, 152;  Connecticut,  150; 
Iowa,  148. 

Akron  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search, 187;  history  and  work, 
25°-253;  publications,  254. 

Alabama  Department  of  Ar- 
chives and  History,  history 
and  work,  327;  publications, 
328. 

Alabama  Legislative  Investigat- 
ing Committee,  history  and 
work,  151;  publications,  152. 

Alameda  County,  Cal.,  Tax  As- 
sociation, history  and  work, 
276;  publications,  277. 

Aldermen,  Board  of,  New  York 
City,  209. 

Aliens,  restriction  on,  in  war- 
time, 356. 

Appointments,  in  Consular  Serv- 
ice, 95;  influence  of  politics  in 
Boston,  198. 

Appropriations,  California,  287; 
Hudson  County,  N.  J.,  278; 
New  York  State,  in  legislative 
session  of  1916,  187;  account- 
ing forms  needed  for,  100. 


373 


INDEX 


Appropriations  and  state  reve- 
nue, Massachusetts,  123. 

Archives  and  history  department, 
Alabama,  152. 

Arizona  State  Law  and  Legisla- 
tive Reference  Library,  his- 
tory and  work,  328;  publica- 
tions, 329. 

Armory  Commission  finances, 
Massachusetts,  123. 

Armory  loans,  Massachusetts, 
123. 

Arrests,  record  of,  Baltimore, 
171. 

Ash  problem,  Milwaukee,  206. 

Asphalt  pavement,  Chicago,  228; 
Milwaukee,  240;  Rochester,  N. 
Y.,  261,  262. 

Assessments,  Toronto,  257. 

Assessors,  Board  of,  New  Jersey, 
consolidation  of,  with  Board  of 
Equalization,  116,  118. 

Attorney  General's  Office,  Ala- 
bama, 152. 

Auditing  board,  Colorado,  154. 

Auditor,  independent,  New  York 
State,  132. 

Auditorium,  Oakland,  California, 
277. 

Auditor's  office,  Alameda  Coun- 
ty, Cal.,  276,  277;  Colorado, 

154. 
Australia,  civil  service  retirement 

in,    1 06. 
Automobile  laws,   New   England 

states,  New  York,  New  Jersey 

and  Pennsylvania,  346. 

Bacteriology  bureau,  Dayton,  234. 

Bail  bonds,  collection  of  money 
on,  Boston,  199. 

Ballot  law  commission,  Massa- 
chusetts, 123. 

Ballot  system,  simplification  of, 
Boston,  193. 

Bank  commissioner,  office  of, 
Colorado,  154. 

Bank  deposits,  guarantee  of,  In- 
diana, 332;  Nebraska,  338. 

Bank  examiners,  349. 

Banking  laws,  of  commercial 
states,  346. 

Bath  department,  Boston,  199. 


Billboards,  regulation  of,  Phila- 
delphia, 219. 
Bill  drafting,  hints  on,  Indiana, 

332- 

Bill  drafting  services,  365-371. 

Blacklisting,  351. 

Board  of  claims,  New  York 
State,  127. 

Board  of  Consulting  Experts, 
appointed  to  aid  in  investigat- 
ing government  business  meth- 
ods, 86. 

Board  of  examiners,  Connecticut, 

ISO- 
Board  of  Referees,  appointed,  to 
aid  in  investigating  govern- 
ment business  methods,  86. 

Bonds,  government  officials',  69, 
72,  79,  82. 

Bookkeeping,  U.  S.  Treasury,  80, 
82. 

Boston  Finance  Commission  of 
1907-1909,  history  and  work, 
191-193;  publications,  197-199. 

Boston  Permanent  Finance  Com- 
mission, history  and  work,  194- 
196;  publications,  197-199. 

Boycotting,  351. 

Bribery  and  corruption,  Michi- 
gan, 335. 

Brick  pavements,  Rochester,  N. 
Y.,  262. 

Bridges,  Boston,  198. 

Bridges  and  Harbors,  Depart- 
ment of,  Chicago,  201. 

Briefing,  96. 

Brown,  Herbert  D.,  80. 

Bruere,  Henry,  Administrative 
Reorganisation  in  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  City  of  New  York, 
210;  Reorganisation  of  the  Of- 
fice of  the  Chamberlain,  210; 
survey  of  departments  under 
direction  of  (New  York  City), 
210. 

Budget,  in  Canadian  provinces, 
1 88. 

Budget  (county),  Cook  County, 
111.,  228;  Westchester  County, 
N.  Y.,  274,  276. 

Budget  (municipal),  Akron,  O., 
251,  254;  Baltimore,  171;  Bos- 
ton, 197,  199;  Chicago,  201, 


374 


INDEX 


204;  Cincinnati,  221,  222;  Co- 
lumbus, O.,  168;  Dayton,  231, 
235,  236 ;  Denver,  258,  260 ;  De- 
troit, 266;  Memphis,  270;  Mil- 
waukee, 239;  New  York  City, 
183,  1 88,  302;  Philadelphia, 
216,  219;  San  Francisco,  265; 
Springfield,  Mass.,  248,  249, 
250;  Toledo,  O.,  168;  Toronto, 
25°>  257;  Yonkers,  268,  269; 
effect  of  mandatory  legisla- 
tion upon,  New  York  City, 
209. 

Budget  (national)  inquiry  into 
need  for,  87-91 ;  need  for 
(1912),  97,  99. 

Budget  (state),  188;  Alabama, 
152;  California,  287;  Colorado, 
154;  Illinois,  142,  331;  Indiana, 
333;  Iowa,  148;  Kansas,  150; 
Louisiana,  157;  Maryland,  166, 
187;  Massachusetts,  125,  296; 
Minnesota,  145,  146;  Nebraska, 
338;  New  Jersey,  164,  165,  186; 
New  York,  129,  131,  178,  188; 
North  Dakota,  341 ;  Oregon, 
160;  Pennsylvania,  134;  Vir- 
ginia, 156;  Wisconsin,  290; 
constructive  proposals  to  be 
submitted  to  the  state  consti- 
tutional convention,  New  York, 

185. 

Budget  idea  in  the  United  States, 
The,  186. 

Budget  procedure,  development 
of,  for  Greater  New  York, 
185;  practical  side  of,  185. 

Budget  systems,  a  discussion  be- 
fore the  New  York  Constitu- 
tional Convention,  185. 

Budget,   The,   by   Rene   Stourm, 

43- . 

Building  and  loan  association,  de- 
partment of,  Colorado,  154. 

Building  code,  Dayton,  233. 

Building  Commission,  Westches- 
ter  County,  N.  Y.,  275,  276. 

Building  department,  Boston, 
199;  Chicago,  200. 

Building  Inspection,  Baltimore, 
171 ;  Minneapolis,  246. 

Buildings,  Chicago,  203;  Detroit, 
266;  Illinois,  137,  142,  143. 


Business  agent's  office,  Chicago, 
200. 

Business  methods,  Bureau  of  In- 
ternal Revenue,  109;  Bureau  of 
Pensions,  109;  Civil  Service 
Commission,  no;  U.  S.  De- 
partments, 107. 

California  Legislative  Counsel 
Bureau,  history  and  work,  329; 
publications,  330. 

California  Legislative  Reference 
Department,  history  and  work, 
357;  publications,  357. 

California  State  Board  of  Con- 
trol, history  and  work,  284- 
286;  publications,  287. 

California  Taxpayers'  Associa- 
tion, work  of,  166. 

Campaign  expenditures,  limita- 
tions on,  356. 

Canada,  provincial  budget  sys- 
tem of,  1 88. 

Canadian  Budgetary  System, 
The,  By  Harold  G.  Villard 
and  W.  W.  Willoughby,  43- 

Canal  claims,  New  York  State, 
127. 

Canal  Commission,  New  Jersey, 
consolidation  of,  with  depart- 
ment of  inland  waterways,  117, 
119. 

Canals,  Ohio,  342. 

Castings,  purchase  of,  Chicago 
200. 

Census,  Bureau  of,  catalogue  and 
price  list  of  supplies  used  in, 
100. 

Central  administrative  control, 
need  for  organization  of,  99. 

Central  power  and  heating  plant, 
Boston,  198. 

Central    stores    system,    Kansas, 

ISO- 
Certified  public  accountants,  352. 

Chamberlain,  office  of,  New 
York  City,  210. 

Chance,  Merrit  O.,  member, 
President's  Commission  on 
Economy  and  Efficiency,  86. 

Charitable  activities,  inquiry  re- 
garding, New  York  City, 
182. 


375 


INDEX 


Charities  and  corrections,  Board 

of,  Colorado,  154. 
Charities,  Board  of,  Connecticut, 

ISO- 
Charities    Department,    Philadel- 
phia, 217,  219;  Rochester,   N. 


Y.,      261,      263; 
250. 


Springfield, 


Charities,    public,    Pennsylvania, 

344- 
Charter        (county),       Alameda 

County,  Calif.,  276,  277. 
Charter  (municipal),  349,  Akron, 

254,  255;  Cincinnati,  169,  222; 

Columbus,    O.,    270;    Dayton, 

231,    237,    238;    Denver,    258; 

Philadelphia,   219;   Springfield, 

Mass.,  249,  250. 
Charters,    municipal   home    rule, 

351- 

Chase,  Harvey  S.,  member,  Pres- 
ident's Commission  on  Econ- 
omy and  Efficiency,  86. 

Check-paying  system,  for  em- 
ployees, Boston,  199. 

Checks  and  vouchers,  assembling 
of,  79,  82. 

Chemistry  bureau,  Dayton,  234. 

Chicago  Bureau  of  Efficiency, 
187. 

Chicago  Bureau  of  Public  Effi- 
ciency, history  and  work,  223- 
227;  publications,  228-229. 

Chicago  Commission  on  City  Ex- 
penditures, history  and  work, 
200;  publications,  200. 

Chicago  Efficiency  Division  of 
the  Civil  Service  Commission, 
history  and  work,  201-202; 
publications,  203. 

Chief  medical  examiner,  office  of, 
(New  York  City),  210. 

Chief  of  Engineers,  office  of, 
mail  and  record  division,  98. 

Chief  of  Ordnance,  office  of, 
handling  correspondence  in, 
98. 

Child  hygiene,  New  York  City, 
182,  188;  Philadelphia,  217. 

Cincinnati  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  history  and  work, 
220-22 1 ;  publications,  222. 

Cipher   coding   systems,    instruc- 


376 


tions  for  preparing  report  on, 
101. 

Citizen  agencies  for  research  in 
government,  187. 

Citizen  and  the  government,  The, 
185. 

City  clerk's  office,  Chicago,  201; 
New  York  City,  209. 

City  council,  election  of,  Boston, 
193;  participation  of  members 
of,  in  executive  and  adminis- 
trative business,  Boston,  199. 

City  debt,  Boston,  197,  198. 

City  government,  unofficial 
agencies  for  investigating,  212- 
271. 

City  government,  Atlanta,  182; 
Boston,  197;  Chicago,  203; 
Cincinnati,  221,  222;  Colum- 
bus, O.,  184;  Dayton,  232,  236; 
plan  for  establishing  model  in 
District  of  Columbia,  189;  In- 
diana, 333;  Indianapolis,  185; 
Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  184;  Los 
Angeles,  182;  Memphis,  270; 
New  York,  189,  209,  210;  Port- 
land, Ore.,  183;  Reading,  Pa., 
184;  Richmond,  185;  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.,  183,  261,  262;  St. 
Louis,  182;  San  Francisco, 
184,  263;  Springfield,  Mass., 
182;  Toledo,  267. 

City  manager  plan,  Chicago,  229 ; 
Dayton,  237;  Petersburg,  Va., 
271. 

Civics,  instruction  in,  in  New 
York  City  high  schools,  188. 

Civil  engineering  service,  stan- 
dardization of  salaries  in, 
Massachusetts,  125. 

Civil  list,  Dayton,  235. 

Civil  servants,  legal  rights  of, 
New  York  City,  186. 

Civil  service,  Akron,  O.,  251 ; 
Virginia,  157. 

Civil  Service  Commission,  104- 
106;  Chicago,  201;  Denver, 
258;  Milwaukee,  239;  Minne- 
apolis, 243;  business  methods 
of,  no. 

Civil  service  commissions,  in  the 
United  States,  list  of,  188. 

Civil  service  laws,  Illinois,   143; 


INDEX 


Ohio,    342;    in    United    States 

and  other  states,  143. 
Claims,    audit    of,    Westchester 

County,     N.     Y.,     274,     275; 

Yonkers,  269;  California,  287; 

United  States,  no. 
Classification    of     Employments. 

See     Salary     Standardization 

and       Public       Employments, 

Standardization  of. 
Clearing  house,  Ohio,  169. 
Clerical  force,  executive  depart- 
ments,    proposed     reclassifica- 

tion  of   (1907),  83. 
Clerk  of  Circuit   Court's  Office, 

Cook  County,  111.,  228,  229. 
Clerk  of  Council's  Office,  Akron, 

253- 
Clerk  of  County  Court's  Office, 

Cook  County,   111.,  229. 
Clerk  of  Superior  Court's  Office, 

Cook  County,  111.,  228,  229. 
Cleveland,       Ohio,       Associated 

Charities,      organization      and 

methods  of,  168. 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  Federation  for 

Charity  and  Philanthropy,  or- 
ganization and  methods  of,  168. 
Cleveland,   Frederick  A.,   Chair- 
man, Commission  on  Economy 

and  Efficiency,  85. 
Clothing,     for     city     employees, 

purchase  of,  Boston,  199. 
Coal,   purchase  of,   Boston,   198, 

Chicago,   201;    by   institutions, 

Maryland,  171. 

Coal  specifications,  Chicago,  227. 
Cockrell  Committee,  history  and 

work    of,    57-63;    publications 

of,  63-65. 
Code     commissioner,     Alabama, 

152. 
Colorado   Survey   Committee   of 

State     Affairs,      history     and 

work  of,   152;  publications  of, 

154. 
Columbia  University  Legislative 

Drafting   Bureau,   history  and 

work,     367-370;     publications, 

371- 
Columbus   Bureau   of   Municipal 

Research,  history  and  work  of, 

270. 


Combustibles,      department      of, 

New  York  City,  210. 
Commerce    and    Labor,    Depart- 

ment of,  see  Bureau  of  Light- 

houses. 
Commerce  and   Navigation,  De- 

partment of,  New  Jersey,  117, 


r. 

Commercial  lighting,  Cincinnati, 

220. 
Commission  merchant  inspectors, 

Colorado,  154. 
Committees  in  department  work, 

use  of,  77,  82. 
Compensation    and    employment, 

laws  regulating  United  States, 

(1893),  7i. 
Complaint    system,    Minneapolis, 

245. 
Comptroller's   office,    Milwaukee, 

239. 
Comptroller     of     the     Treasury, 

New   Jersey,   consolidation   of 

office  with  department  of  ac- 

counts, 116,  119. 
Compulsory    attendance    bureau, 

Cincinnati,  222,  223. 
Compulsory     education     bureau, 

Philadelphia,  215. 
Concession     privileges,     Boston, 

r.  199- 

Congress,  inquiries  by,  regarding 
national  administration,  45- 
56. 

Connecticut  Bill  Drafting  Serv- 
ice, history  and  work  of,  365. 

Connecticut  Legislative  Refer- 
ence Department,  history  and 
work,  357;  publications,  358. 

Connecticut  State  Commission 
on  the  Consolidation  of  State 
Commissions  and  the  Reorgan- 
ization of  the  Public  Health 
Laws,  history  and  work,  149; 
publications,  149. 

Conservation  and  Development, 
Department  of,  New  Jersey, 

„  117,  119- 

Constitutional  conventions,  Ohio, 
342. 

Consular  Service,  regulations 
governing  appointments  and 
promotions  in  (1912),  95. 


377 


INDEX 


Contagious  diseases  of  domestic 

animals,      laws      relating     to, 

Massachusetts,  125. 
Contracts,  Illinois,  143;  for  local 

improvements,    Rochester,    N. 

Y.,    261 ;    U.    S.    government, 

80,  82. 
Convict     department,     Alabama, 

'S2- 

Cooperation,  store,  Wisconsin, 
290. 

Coroner's  office,  Cook  County, 
111.,  228;  New  York  City, 
210. 

Corporation  audits,  New  Jersey, 
164. 

Corporations,  Michigan,  336 ; 
Pennsylvania,  344;  state  su- 
pervision of,  Colorado,  154, 
Illinois,  143. 

Correspondence,  filing  of,  in  U. 
S.  departments,  70,  73,  94,  96; 
U.  S.  Departments,  subjective 
classification  of,  96;  registers 
of,  96;  elimination  of  saluta- 
tion and  complimentary  close 
in,  96;  handling  of,  in  mail 
and  record  division,  Office  of 
Chief  of  Engineers,  98;  in 
Bureau  of  Insular  Affairs,  98, 
in  office  of  Surgeon  General, 
98,  in  office  of  Signal  Corps, 
98,  in  office  of  Chief  of  Ord- 
nance, 98,  in  Department  of 
Justice,  98,  in  executive  de- 
partments, 101 ;  instructions  to 
be  followed  in  handling,  100. 

Corrupt  practices,  351. 

Cost  data,  collection  of,   loo. 

Costkeeping,  in  U.  S.  govern- 
ment, 78,  82;  Milwaukee,  239. 

Cost  of  living,  New  York  City, 
306. 

County  bond  issues,  Chicago, 
229. 

County  fee  offices,  Cook  County, 
111.,  225,  229. 

County  government,  unofficial 
agencies  to  investigate,  272- 
278;  Alameda  County,  Calif., 
277;  Monroe  County,  N.  Y., 
183,  261,  262;  Nassau  County, 
N.  Y.,  183. 


378 


Customs,  method  of  collecting, 
(1895),  7<>,  73- 

Cutting,  R.  Fulton,  Public  Opin- 
ion and  National  Economy, 
1 86. 

Dairy  products,  production  and 
standards  of,  California,  330. 

Day  laborers,  efficiency  of,  Bos- 
ton, 198. 

Dayton  Bureau  of  Research, 
187;  history  and  work  of,  230- 
235;  publications  of,  236-237. 

Debt,  Denver,  258;  New  York 
City,  180,  181. 

Denver  Civic  and  Legislative 
Bureau  of  the  Denver  Civic 
and  Commercial  Association, 
history  and  work  of,  258-259; 
publications  of,  260. 

Dependents,  delinquents  and  de- 
fectives, care  of,  Colorado, 

153,  154. 

Deposits  of  postmasters,  dispo- 
sition of,  69,  71. 

Detention  home,  Alameda 
County,  Calif.,  277. 

Detroit  Bureau  of  Governmental 
Research,  history  and  work  of, 
265 ;  publications  of,  266. 

Dictation  machine,  96;  in  Post 
Office  Department,  96. 

Direct  primary,   Nebraska,  338. 

Districting,  for  work  of  char- 
itable institutions,  Baltimore, 
172. 

Dockery-Cockrell  Commission, 
history  and  work,  66-71 ;  pub- 
lication, 71-73. 

Documents,  schedules  and  regis- 
ters of,  100 ;  U.  S.  Govern- 
ment, distribution  of,  94;  pho- 
tographic processes  for  copy- 
ing, 94,  95- 

Duplication  of  service,  in  U.  S. 
government,  112. 

Education,  Department  of,  Ala- 
bama, 152,  Atlanta,  182,  Min- 
neapolis, 245. 

Educational  agencies,  admin- 
istration of,  Illinois,  142,  143; 
other  states  and  countries,  143. 


INDEX 


Educational  code,  Denver,  259, 
260. 

Efficiency,  Bureau  of,  history 
and  work,  106-112;  publica- 
tions, 112-113. 

Efficiency,  Division  of,  116-117; 
see  also  Bureau  of  Efficiency. 

Efficiency  ratings,  U.  S.  Govern- 
ment, 104-108;  in  National 
Bank  Redemption  Agency 
(1913),  99,  102. 

Efficient  Citizenship,  185. 

Election  Commission,  Denver, 
258. 

Election  days  as  holidays,  Chica- 
go, 230. 

Elections,  Alameda  County, 
Calif.,  277;  Chicago,  229;  New 
York  City,  209;  Michigan, 

335-.  , 

Electricity,  department  of,  Chi- 
cago, 201,  203. 

Electric  lighting,  federal  build- 
ings, 99;  municipal,  351. 

Electric  light  plant,  expenditures 
of,  Columbus,  O.,  169. 

Employees,  efficiency  of,  Wis- 
consin, 291. 

Employer's  liability,  Rhode 
Island,  346. 

Employers'  Liability  Commis- 
sion, New  Jersey,  consolida- 
tion of,  with  other  agencies, 
116,  118. 

Employment  bureaus,  Milwau- 
kee, 205. 

Engineer,  in  Public  Service,  The, 
187. 

Engineering  department,  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.,  262. 

Engineer  service,  Chicago,  203. 

Enrollment  of  bills,    (1893),  68> 

Enumeration  districts,  Baltimore, 

172. 
Equalization,     Board     of,     New 

Jersey,   consolidation   of,   with 

Board  of  Assessors,   116,   117, 

118. 
Estimates,        California,        287; 

Maryland,  171;  preparation  of 

analyses  of,  101. 
Examining  Board,  Illinois,  143. 


Excess  condemnation,  Chicago, 
230, 

Executive,  relations  to  legisla- 
ture, New  York  State,  132. 

Executive  organization,  pro- 
posed in  Illinois,  144. 

Exemptions  from  taxation, 
Michigan,  336. 

Expenditure  accounting  and  re- 
porting, 102,  103. 

Expenditure  documents,  cata- 
logues used  in  preparation  of, 
101 ;  forms  of,  103. 

Expenditures,  San  Francisco, 
263,  265;  Toledo,  267;  U.  S. 
government,  classification  of, 
99-101 ;  standardized  classifica- 
tion of,  for  use  by  state  de- 
partments, cities,  etc.,  Ohio, 
169. 

Expense  accounts,  Springfield, 
Mass.,  250 ;  Massachusetts, 
123;  Virginia,  156. 

Expense  classification,  Cincin- 
nati, 221 ;  Minneapolis,  243. 

Farm  ownership,  Wisconsin, 
290. 

Federal  buildings,  electric  light- 
ing of  (1913),  99. 

Federal  Government  as  an  Ex- 
ample, The,  by  William  H. 
Taft,  186. 

Federation  for  charity  and  phil- 
anthropy, Dayton,  235. 

Fees,  retention  of,  Minneapolis, 
244;  abolition  of,  Virginia, 
156. 

Fee  system,  349. 

Ferry   department,    Boston,    199. 

Filing,  vertical  flat,  96. 

Finance  Commission^  Boston, 
organization  and  work  of, 
187. 

Finance  Department,  Denver, 
258. 

Finances,  Akron,  250,  255 ;  Chi- 
cago, 230;  California,  288; 
Ohio  cities,  342. 

Financial  Administration  with 
Special  reference  to  English 
Experience,  by  A.  Lawrence 
Lowell,  1 86. 


379 


INDEX 


Financial  administration,  Bos- 
ton, 191-192;  Columbus,  169; 
Detroit,  266;  Michigan,  336; 
New  York  City,  180;  Toledo, 
169;  Illinois,  136,  142;  New 
York  State,  186;  Great 
Britain,  43;  Japan,  188;  cen- 
tral control  of,  in  New  York 
City,  188. 

Fire  and  police  alarm  telegraph 
system,  Milwaukee,  205. 

Fire  apparatus,  automobile,  Bos- 
ton, 199;  motorization  of, 
Dayton,  233. 

Fire  department,  Chicago,  201 ; 
Dayton,  233;  Milwaukee,  240, 
241;  Philadelphia,  218;  Toron- 
to, 256;  purchase  of  equip- 
ment, Yonkers,  269. 

Fire  hose  specifications,  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.,  261,  262. 

Fire  insurance,  Illinois,  144;  on 
city  property,  Philadelphia, 
219. 

Firemen,  granting  time  off  to, 
Boston,  199. 

Fire  protection,   Boston,   198. 

Fiscal  year,  Virginia,  156. 

Fish  and  Game  Conservation 
Commission,  Illinois,  143. 

Fisheries  and  Game,  Board  of, 
Connecticut,  150. 

Fisheries  and  Game  Commis- 
sioners, Massachusetts,  123, 

I25- 

Flood  protection,   Indiana,  333. 

Floor  preservatives,  Boston, 
199. 

Foodstuffs,  control  over  hand- 
ling of,  Philadelphia,  217,  220. 

Forest  protection,  Michigan,  336. 

Forestry,    Massachusetts,    123. 

Full  crew  law,  New  Jersey,  164, 
165. 

Game    and    fish,    protection    of, 

Colorado,   153,   154. 
Game     and     fish     commissioner, 

Alabama,   152. 
Garage     service,     Boston,     199; 

Cincinnati,  221. 
Garbage    collection,    Akron,    O., 

251,    253;    Dayton,    289;    Mil- 


380 


waukee,  206;  Rochester,  N. 
Y.,  261;  Toledo,  267. 

Garbage  disposal,  Dayton,  232; 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  261;  Toron- 
to, 256;  see  also  Refuse  dis- 
posal. 

Garnishment  of  wages,  Milwau- 
kee, 205. 

Gas  and  electric  systems,  valua- 
tion of,  Cincinnati,  223. 

Gas  lighting,  municipal,  351. 

General  Land  Office,  consolida- 
tion of,  70. 

General  Supply  Committee,  cre- 
ation of,  77. 

Geological  Survey,  The,  43. 

Georgia  Legislative  Reference 
Department,  history  and  work, 
358;  publications,  359. 

Goodnow,  Frank  J.,  member, 
President's  Commission  on 
Economy  and  Efficiency,  86; 
Administration  and  Financial 
Methods,  186;  State  Govern- 
ment from  the  point  of  view 
of  Administrative"  Law,  186. 

Government  crop  reports  (1906), 
75,  81. 

Governor,     office    of,     Colorado, 

153,    154.  . 

Grade  crossings,  Dayton,  236; 
Detroit,  266. 

Great  Britain,  financial  admin- 
istration of,  43;  civil  service 
retirement  in,  97. 

Hall  of  Records  power  plant, 
New  York  City,  cost  of  oper- 
ation and  maintenance,  184. 

Health  department,  Atlanta, 
182;  Boston,  197,  199;  Chi- 
cago, 204;  Dayton,  234,  236; 
Milwaukee,  206;  Minneapolis, 
244;  New  York  City,  180; 
Philadelphia,  217,  219;  St. 
Paul,  182,  189;  Springfield, 
Mass.,  249;  Toronto,  257; 
New  Jersey,  117,  119. 

High  schools,  Boston,  199;  Wis- 
consin, 291. 

Highway  administration,  prob- 
lems of,  1 88. 

Highway    laws,    Colorado,    154; 


INDEX 


Ohio,  342;  of  the  United 
States,  188. 

Highways,  North  Dakota,  341 ; 
administration  of,  Illinois, 
143;  construction  and  main- 
tenance of,  New  York  State, 
130,  132. 

Highway  system,  New  Jersey, 
165,  166. 

Hospital,  emergency,  Alameda 
County,  Calif.,  277. 

Hospital  for  contagious  dis- 
eases, Philadelphia,  217. 

Hospital,  general,  Minneapolis, 
245;  Philadelphia,  217. 

Hospitals  for  consumptives,  Bos- 
ton, 198. 

Hospitals,  inquiry  regarding, 
New  York  City,  182. 

Hospitals  for  insane,  New  York 
State,  130,  131;  Springfield, 
Md.,  171. 

Hours  of  labor,  in  U.  S.  Gov- 
ernment (1906),  78,  82;  of 
public  employees,  Massachu- 
setts, 125. 

House  of  Correction,  Chicago, 
204. 

House  of  Refuge,  Cincinnati, 
223. 

Housing  and  health,  Ohio,  170; 
Philadelphia,  217. 

Hudson  County  (N.  J.)  Citi- 
zens' Federation,  history  and 
work,  278;  publications,  278. 

Illinois  Department  of  Finance, 
history  and  work  of,  296-297. 

Illinois  Efficiency  and  Economy 
Committee,  history  and  work, 
134-141 ;  publications,  142-143. 

Illinois  Legislative  Reference 
Bureau,  history  and  work, 
330;  publications,  331. 

Immigration  Department,  Ala- 
bama, 152. 

Improvements  Department,  Den- 
ver, 258. 

Indebtedness  of  American  cities, 
purposes  of,  187. 

Indiana  Legislative  and  Statis- 
tical Bureau,  history  and 
work,  332;  publications,  332. 


381 


Indianapolis  Bureau  of  Govern- 
mental Research  of  the  In- 
dianapolis Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, history  and  work  of, 
269. 

Indian  Office,  bookkeeping  sys- 
tem for,  107-108;  administra- 
tion of,  183,  186. 

Indian  Service,  proposed  busi- 
ness procedure  of  (1911),  100. 

Industries,  Alabama,  152;  Con- 
necticut, 150;  Iowa,  148. 

Infirmary,  Alameda  County, 
Calif.,  277. 

Inheritance     taxation,     Indiana, 

T  332.. 

Initiative,  342,  351,  352. 

Inland  Waterways,  Department 
of,  New  Jersey,  consolidation 
of,  with  Canal  Commission, 
117,  119. 

Insane,  care  and  treatment  of, 
Colorado,  154. 

Inspector  of  oils,  office  of, 
Colorado,  154. 

Institute  for  Government  Re- 
search, 31-43- 

Institutions,  children's,  Boston, 
198;  charitable,  Denver,  259, 
260,  Illinois,  142,  143,  Kansas, 
150,  151,  New  York  State, 
131 ;  correctional,  Boston,  198, 
Chicago,  201,  Illinois,  142, 
143,  Kansas,  150,  151,  New 
York  State,  131 ;  county,  busi- 
ness administration  of,  Massa- 
chusetts, 123 ;  educational, 
Kansas,  150,  151;  state,  alien 
immigrants  admitted  to,  Mass- 
achusetts, 123 ;  non-registered 
physicians  employed  at,  Mass- 
achusetts, 124;  reorganization 
of  commissions  having  control 
of,  Massachusetts,  122,  123, 
124,  bills  and  appropriations 
connected  with,  New  York 
State,  127,  control  and  super- 
vision of,  Indiana,  333,  organ- 
ization of  state  control,  Ore- 
gon, 160;  state-aided,  Massa- 
chusetts, 124. 

Institutions  for  minors,  Colo- 
rado, 154. 


INDEX 


Insular  Affairs,  Bureau  of,  cor- 
respondence and  statistical 
work  in  (1913),  98. 

Insurance  department,  Colorado, 

154. 

Internal  Revenue,  Bureau  of, 
business  methods  of,  109. 

International  money  orders,  sta- 
tistics of  (1894),  70,  72. 

Iowa  Joint  Committee  on  Re- 
trenchment and  Reform,  his- 
tory and  work,  147;  publica- 
tions, 148. 

Iowa  Law  and  Legislative  Ref- 
erence Department,  history 
and  work,  359;  publications, 


359- 
Janitor  service,  Chicago,  203. 


Japan,  administration  and  fi- 
nance in,  1 88. 

Job  selling  in  industrial  estab- 
lishments, Ohio,  170. 

Judiciary  department,  Virginia, 
156. 

Jury  commissioner's  office,  Den- 
ver, 258. 

Justice,  Department  of,  handling 
correspondence  in,  98. 

Juvenile  courts,  349,  351 ;  Cincin- 
nati, 223;  Denver,  258. 

Juvenile  court  laws,  Pennsyl- 
vania, 344.  


Kansas  Efficiency  and  Economy 
Committee,  history  and  work, 
150;  publications,  151. 

Kansas  Legislative  Reference 
Department,  history  and  work, 
3335  publications,  333. 

Keep  Committee,  history  and 
work,  74-81 ;  publications,  81- 

83.' 
\ 

Labor  regulation,  Colorado,   154. 

Labor,  Department  of,  New  Jer- 
sey, consolidation  of,  with 
other  agencies,  116,  117,^118. 

Labor  agencies,  administration 
of,  Illinois,  136,  143;  Ohio, 
170. 

Labor  and  Factory  Inspection 
Department,  Connecticut,  149. 


382 


Laborers,  vacations  for,  Boston, 
199. 

Labor-saving  devices,  sugges- 
tions for  use  of,  94,  96;  in 
executive  departments  U.  S. 
government,  101 ;  in  payment 
of  pensions,  108-109. 

Labor  Statistics,  Bureau  of,  New 
Jersey,  consolidation  of,  with 
other  agencies,  116,  117,  118. 

Lake  tunnel  system,  Chicago, 
200. 

Land,  taxation  of  unearned  in- 
crement of,  Boston,  198. 

Land  cases,  contested,  70,  72. 

Land  court,  Boston,  198. 

Land  offices,  registers  and  re- 
ceivers of,  70,  72. 

Land  patents,  engrossing  and  re- 
cording (1895),  70,  72. 

Lawmaking,  procedure  in,  Illi- 
nois, 331. 

Laws,   codification   of,   Alabama, 

T52. 

Leaves  of  absence,  in  U.  S. 
Government,  78,  82;  Virginia, 
156. 

Legal  advertising,  laws  relative 
to,  Ohio,  342. 

Legal   aid,   Milwaukee,   205. 

Legal   aid  bureau,    Dayton,   234. 

'Legislative  index,  New  Jersey, 
163. 

Legislative  reference  and  bill- 
drafting  service,  report  of 
committee  of  American  Bar 
Association,  313-326;  agencies 
furnishing,  327-352. 

Legislative     reference     services, 

T  353-364. 

Legislature,    relation    to    execu- 
tive,   New    York    State,    132; 
organization    of,    New    York, 
132,   Virginia,    156;   procedure 
i    of,  New  York,  132. 
,Library     activities,     state     sup- 
ji    ported,  338. 

:  jLibrary  of  Congress,  Legislative 
Reference  Division,  history 
and  work,  353-355;  publica- 
tions, 356. 
Jcenses,  Dayton,  232;  Philadel- 
phia, 219;  for  private  uses  of 


INDEX 


public  streets,  Boston,  198;  for 
minors,  Boston,  198;  for 
stands  for  sight-seeing  auto- 
mobiles, Boston,  199. 

Life  Saving  Service,  recommen- 
dation for  consolidation  with 
Bureau  of  Lighthouses,  92,  95 ; 
history,  organization  and  ac- 
tivities of,  96. 

Life  saving  stations,  location  of 
(1912),  96. 

Lighthouses,  Bureau  of,  recom- 
mendation for  consolidation  of 
with  Life  Saving  Service,  92, 
95;  history,  organization  and 
activities  of,  96. 

Liquor  laws,  Pennsylvania,  344. 

Liquor  question,  349. 

Liquor  traffic,  Michigan,  336. 

Lobbying,   351. 

Local  governments,  unification 
of,  Chicago,  227,  229. 

Los  Angeles  Bureau  of  Effi- 
ciency, 210. 

Louisiana  Board  of  State  Af- 
fairs, history  and  work,  157; 
publications,  158. 

Lowell,  A.  Lawrence,  Financial 
Administration  with  Special 
Reference  to  English  Experi- 
ence, 1 86. 

Lumber,  purchase  of,  Chicago, 
201. 

Mailing  machinery,  96. 
Maine      Legislative      Reference 
Bureau,  history  and  work  of, 

359- 

Mandamus,  use  of,  Philadelphia, 
219. 

Marine  Hospital  Service,  regu- 
lations governing  (1912),  95. 

Markets,  Dayton,  232;  Wiscon- 
sin, 290. 

Maryland  Bureau  of  State  and 
Municipal  Research,  history 
and  work,  171 ;  publications, 
171. 

Maryland  Commission  on  Econ- 
omy and  Efficiency,  history 
and  work,  166;  publications, 
166. 

Maryland  Department  of  Legis- 


383 


lative    Reference,   history   and 
work,   333;   publications,  334. 
Massachusetts       Bill       Drafting 
Service,  history  and  work  of, 
366. 

Massachusetts  Commission  for 
the  Blind,  selling  methods 
used  by,  123. 

Massachusetts  Commission  on 
Economy  and  Efficiency,  his- 
tory and  work,  119-121;  pub- 
lications, 122-125. 
Massachusetts  Legislative  Ref- 
erence Department,  history 
and  work  of,  360. 
Massachusetts  Supervisor  of  Ad- 
ministration, history  and 
work  of,  291-295;  publications 
of,  296. 

Mayor,   concentration  of  execu- 
tive  power   and   responsibility 
in,  Boston,  193. 
Medical      school,      Minneapolis, 

243,  245. 

Memphis    Bureau    of    Municipal 
Research,    history    and    work, 
270;  publications,  270. 
Merchant  marine,  foreign  legis- 
lation on,  356. 

Merit  system,  Minnesota,  144. 
Metz     Fund,     publications     of, 

189. 

Michigan    Legislative    Reference 

Department,  history  and  work, 

334;  publications,  335. 

Military  affairs,   Michigan,  336. 

Military    Department,    Alabama, 

152;  Illinois,  143. 
Military    functions,    organization 

for,  New  York  State,  132. 
Military       service,       exemption, 

Great  Britain,  356. 
Milk     inspection,     Philadelphia, 

217. 

Milwaukee  Bureau  of  Economy 
and  Efficiency  and  Bureau  of 
Municipal  Research,  history 
and  work,  204;  publications, 
205. 

Milwaukee  Citizens  Bureau  of 
Municipal  Efficiency,  187;  his- 
tory and  work  of,  238-240; 
publications  of,  241. 


INDEX 


Minimum  wage  law,  Wisconsin, 

205. 
Mining  legislation,   Illinois,   136, 

143. 

Minneapolis  Bureau  of  Munici- 
pal Research,  187. 

Minneapolis  Bureau  of  Munici- 
pal Research  of  the  Minne- 
apolis Civic  and  Commerce 
Association,  history  and  work, 
242-245;  publications,  246. 

Minnesota  Commission  on  Reor- 
ganization of  Civil  Adminis- 
tration, history  and  work,  146; 
publications,  147. 

Minnesota  Efficiency  and  Econ- 
omy Commission,  history  and 
work,  144;  publications,  145. 

Mississippi  Joint  Investigating 
Committee,  work  of,  161. 

Missouri  Legislative  Reference 
Department,  history  and  work, 
336;  publications,  337. 

Money  orders,  destruction  of 
old,  69,  72;  checking  of,  70, 

73- 
Montana    Legislative    Reference 

Bureau,  history  and  work,  337. 
Mortgage  taxation,  351. 
Moth      suppression,      Massachu- 

setts,   123. 

Motor   vehicles,    laws,   336. 
Movement    for    Budgetary    Re- 

form  in   the   States,   The,   by 

William  F.  Willoughby,  43. 
Municipal  administration,  unoffi- 

cial    agencies     for     studying, 

173-190. 
Municipal  Court,  Cincinnati,  222, 

223;  Philadelphia,  218. 
Municipal    Court    Act,    Chicago, 

226,  228. 
Municipal  government,  see  City 

government. 

Municipal  home  rule,  349. 
Municipal  reports,  unit  costs  in, 

189. 
Municipal  Research,  185. 

National  administration,  official 
agencies  for  investigating,  44- 


National       Bank       Redemption 


384 


Agency,    efficiency   records   in, 
99,    102. 

Naval  Officer,  Customs  Service, 
abolition  of  office  of,  70. 

Navy  Department,  organization 
of,  99-100. 

Nebraska  Legislative  Reference 
Bureau,  history  and  work, 
337;  publications,  338. 

Negro  education,  Philadelphia, 
215. 

New  England  Cotton  Manufac- 
turers' Association,  resolution 
of,  regarding  government  crop 
reports,  75. 

New  Hampshire  Legislative  Ref- 
erence Bureau,  history  and 
work,  339. 

New  Jersey  Bureau  of  State  Re- 
search, history  and  work,  163- 
164;  publications,  165. 

New  Jersey  Economy  and  Effi- 
ciency Commission,  history 
and  work,  115-118;  publica- 
tions, 118-119. 

New  Jersey  Legislative  Refer- 
ence Department,  history  and 
work,  360;  publications,  361. 

New  Jersey  State  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  history  and  work, 
162-164;  publications,  165. 

New  Mexico  Taxpayers  Associa- 
tion, work  of,  1 66. 

New  South  Wales,  civil  service 
retirement  in  (1910),  97. 

New  York  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment,  history 
and  work,  301-304;  publica- 
tions, 305. 

New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  history  and  work, 
173-179;  publications,  180-190. 

New  York  Department  of  Effi- 
ciency and  Economy,  history 
and  work,  128-130;  publica- 
tions, 131. 

New  York  State  Bill  Drafting 
Commission,  history  and  work 
of,  366. 

New  York  State  Commissioner 
of  Accounts,  history  and  work, 
206-207;  publications,  208-209. 

New    York    (State)    Committee 


INDEX 


of  Inquiry  to  Investigate  the 
Administration  of  the  State 
Government,  history  and  work 
of,  126,  127. 

New  York  State  Legislative  Li- 
brary, history  and  work  of, 

363- 

New  York  State  Legislative  Ref- 
erence Section,  history  and 
work,  361 ;  publications,  362. 

New  Zealand,  civil  service  re- 
tirement in  (1910),  97. 

North  Carolina  Legislative  Ref- 
erence Department,  history 
and  work,  339;  publications, 
340. 

North  Dakota  Legislative  Refer- 
ence Bureau,  history  and 
work,  340;  publications,  341. 

Normal  schools,  Massachusetts, 
123;  Wisconsin,  290. 

Office  hours,  uniform,  Virginia, 
156. 

Ohio  Institute  for  Public  Effi- 
ciency, 187;  history  and  work 
of,  167-169;  publications  of, 
170. 

Ohio  Joint  Investigating  Com- 
mittee, work  of,  161. 

Ohio  Legislative  Reference  De- 
partment, history  and  work, 
341 ;  publications,  342. 

Oregon  Consolidation  Commis- 
sion, history  and  work  of,  159. 

Oregon  State  Library,  history 
and  work  of,  363. 

Organic  law,  Ohio,  342. 

Organised  Efforts  for  the  Im- 
provement of  Methods  of  Ad- 
ministration in  the  United 
States,  by  Gustavus  A.  Weber, 
43- 

Over-age,  in  schools,  Cincinnati, 
221,  223;  Dayton,  236. 

Overtime,  payment  for,  Boston, 
199. 

Oyster  industry,  349. 

Paper  money,  recovery  of  fiber 

stock  of  cancelled,  99. 
Park  administration,  New  York 


City,  1 80. 


Park  board,  Minneapolis,  245. 

Park  governments,  consolidation 
of,  Chicago,  226,  229. 

Party  nominations,  abolition  of, 
Boston,  193. 

Patent  Law  and  Procedure  of 
Germany,  England  and  United 
States,  98. 

Patent  Office,  investigation  of, 
97;  publications  of,  98. 

Patrolman's  manual,  Philadel- 
phia, 218,  220. 

Paving,  Dayton,  235 ;  see  also 
Asphalt  pavements,  Brick 
pavements. 

"Pay-as-you-go"  agreement,  New 
York  City,  185. 

Payroll  control,  Milwaukee,  239. 

Payrolls,  preparation  and  pay- 
ment of,  loi. 

Pennsylvania  Economy  and  Effi- 
ciency Commission,  history 
and  work  of,  133;  publications 
of,  134. 

Pennsylvania  Legislative  Refer- 
ence Bureau,  history  and  work 
of,  343;  publications  of,  344. 

Pension  and  retirement  fund 
commission,  New  Jersey,  165. 

Pension  systems,  police,  New 
Jersey,  165;  firemen's,  New 
Jersey,  165. 

Pensions,  Bureau  of,  business 
methods  of,  109. 

Pensions,  establishment  of  im- 
proved system  for  payment  of, 
108-109;  U.  S.  employees,  es- 
timates of  immediate  and  ulti- 
mate cost  of,  107. 

Petersburg  (Va.)  Bureau  of 
Governmental  Research,  his- 
tory and  work,  271 ;  publica- 
tions, 271. 

Philadelphia  Bureau  of  Munici- 
pal Research,  187;  history  and 
work,  213-218;  publications, 
219. 

Plumbing  inspection,  Milwaukee, 
206. 

Pneumatic  tube  system,  under- 
ground, 99,  102. 


Police     department,     Baltimore, 


385 


171;  Chicago,  201,  203;  Day- 


INDEX 


ton,  233;  Minneapolis,  246; 
New  York  City,  180,  181,  183; 
Philadelphia,  218. 

Police  pension  fund,  New  York 
City,  183. 

Police  power,  sanitary,  Rhode 
Island,  346. 

Police  surgeons,  New  York  City, 
210. 

Positions,  appointment  to,  made 
by  President  with  advice  and 
consent  of  Senate,  99;  crea- 
tion of,  Pennsylvania,  134. 

Presidential  primaries,  laws  re- 
lating to,  336. 

President's  Commission  on 
Economy  and  Efficiency,  his- 
tory and  work  of,  84-94;  pub- 
lications of,  94-103. 

Press  copy  versus  carbon  copy, 
96;  legal  aspect  of,  98. 

Primaries,  349. 

Primary   elections,   351. 

Principles  Governing  the  Retire- 
ment of  Public  Employees,  by 
Lewis  Meriam,  43. 

Principles  of  Government  Pur- 
chasing, by  Arthur  G.  Thomas, 

43- 

Printing,  Westchester  County, 
N.  Y.,  275,  276;  Boston,  197; 
New  York  City,  210;  Ala- 
bama, 152;  Illinois,  143;  Iowa, 
148;  Massachusetts,  125;  New 
York  State,  127;  Wisconsin, 
291;  in  other  states,  ,143. 

Prison  Control,  Department  of, 
New  Jersey,  117,  119. 

Prisons,  New  York  State,  131, 
179. 

Problem  of  a  National  Budget, 
The,  by  William  F.  Willough- 
by,  43- 

Procter,  Arthur  W.,  ed.  Stan- 
dardisation of  Public  Employ- 
ments, 1 86. 

Promotions  in  consular  service 
(1912),  95. 

Property  department,  Denver, 
258. 

Property  returns,  California, 
287;  U.  S.  government,  69,  71. 

Proportional  representation,  351. 


Protection  of  birds,  349. 

Public  administrator,  Denver, 
258. 

Publications,  U.  S.  historical,  81, 
82;  of  U.  S.  government,  cen- 
tralization of  distribution  of, 

95,  96. 

Public  buildings  and  grounds; 
Virginia,  156. 

Public  documents,  Boston,  197, 
Massachusetts,  296. 

Public  employees,  political  ac- 
tivity of,  Boston,  198. 

Public  employment,  standardiza- 
tion of,  1 86,  187;  Milwaukee, 
241 ;  See  also  Salary  standard- 
ization. 

Public  examiner,  office  of,  Colo- 
rado, 154. 

Public  funds,  custody  of,  Colo- 
rado, 153. 

Public  health,  Connecticut,  150; 
inquiry  regarding,  New  York 
City,  182;  administration  of, 
Illinois,  136,  142,  143;  rela- 
tion between  state  and  local 
authorities,  Illinois,  143;  ad- 
ministration of,  New  York 
and  Wisconsin,  143. 

Public  Health  Service,  regula- 
tions governing,  95 ;  establish- 
ment of  as  independent  serv- 
ice, 99. 

Public  lands,  Michigan,  336. 

Public  Opinion  and  National 
Economy,  by  R.  Fulton  Cut- 
ting, 1 86. 

Public  printing,  cost  of,  75,  81. 

Public  property,  returns  from 
lessees  of,  Dayton,  236. 

Public  records,  care  of,  Massa- 
chusetts, 123. 

Public   safety,   Iowa,    148. 

Public  schools,  see  Schools. 

Public  service  commission  laws, 
342. 

Public  surveys,  improvement  of, 
70,  73- 

Public  utilities,  control  of,  Colo- 
rado, 154;  New  York  and 
Wisconsin,  342. 

Public  Welfare  Department, 
Dayton,  235. 


INDEX 


Public  Works  Department,  Bos- 
ton, 198;  Philadelphia,  218; 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  261 ;  Illinois, 


142,  143. 
Purchases, 


centralization       of, 


Philadelphia,  218,  New  Jersey, 

118,  119. 
Purchases  of  coal  and  wood,  for 

use  by  government,  69,  72. 
Purchasing,    Columbus,   O.,    169; 

Minneapolis,  244;  Toledo,  169; 

Virginia,   156. 
Purchasing      agency,      Alameda 

County,  Calif.,  277. 
Purchasing      agent,      municipal, 

Baltimore,     171 ;     creation    of 

office  of,  Iowa,  148. 
Purchasing    control,     Massachu- 
setts, 296. 
Purchasing   Department,    Akron, 

253;    Alabama,    152;    Dayton, 

234;     Milwaukee,     240,     241; 

Springfield,  249. 

Railroad    Commission,   Alabama, 

152. 

Railway   co-employment,   351. 
Railways,     government     control 

of,  in  Great  Britain,  357. 
Rates  of  pay,  no. 
Recall,  351. 
Receipts       and       disbursements, 

methods     of     accounting     for, 

no. 

Receipts  and  expenditures,  Wis- 
consin,   291. 

Reclamation  Service,  The,  43. 
Recorder's        Office,        Alameda 

County,     Calif.,     277;      Cook 

County,  111.,  228. 
Recreation    department,    Boston, 

198;  Dayton,  234. 
Recreation     facilities,     Toronto, 

257. 
Recreation     survey,     Milwaukee, 

206. 

Referendum,  342,  351,  352. 
Reformatory,    New   York   State, 

131- 
Refuse  disposal,  Boston,  198;  by 

incineration,   Milwaukee,  205. 
Registers  and  directories  of  U.  S. 

Government,  188. 


387 


Registry  Department,  Boston, 
198. 

Removal  from  office,  Michigan, 
336. 

Reports,  uniform  system  of  sum- 
mary, 100;  of  state  depart- 
ments, Illinois,  138. 

Responsible   Government,   186. 

Retirement  of  superannuated 
government  employees  (1912), 
96. 

Retirement  system,  Boston,  198; 
firemen,  Boston,  198,  Dayton, 
233;  policemen,  Dayton,  233, 
New  York  City,  210. 

Returns  Office,  Interior  Depart- 
ment, abolition  recommended, 
92,  96. 

Revenue,  sources  of,  Dayton, 
232,  Philadelphia,  219;  collec- 
tion of,  Yonkers,  269. 

Revenue   administration,   Illinois, 

143. 

Revenue  Cutter  Service,  aboli- 
tion recommended,  92,  96. 

Revenues  and  disbursements,  ac- 
counting, auditing  and  report- 
ing of,  Colorado,  153,  154. 

Revenues  and  loans,  Massachu- 
setts, 125. 

Rhode  Island  Legislative  Refer- 
ence Bureau,  history  and  work, 
345;  publications,  346. 

Rochester  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  history  and  work, 
260-261 ;  publications,  262. 

Roosevelt,  President,  74. 

Rural  schools,  Ohio,  235. 

Safety  Department,  Denver, 
258. 

Salaries,  executive  departments, 
83;  arsenals  and  navy  yards, 
83;  U.  S.  employees,  in;  Chi- 
cago, 204;  Yonkers,  268,  269; 
Hudson  County,  N.  J.,  278; 
Illinois,  135 ;  Massachusetts, 
120,  123;  Pennsylvania,  134. 

Salary  standardization,  187;  Ak- 
ron, 253;  Boston,  199;  Chica- 
go, 187;  Cincinnati,  221;  Mil- 
waukee, 206;  New  York  City, 
182,  187,  303,  306;  Philadel- 


INDEX 


phia,  217,  220;  Pittsburgh,  187; 
Massachusetts,  125,  296;  New 
York  State,  178,  187;  U.  S. 
Government,  78,  83,  101,  in; 
see  also  Public  Employment, 
standardization  of. 

San  Francisco  Bureau  of  Gov- 
ernment Research,  history  and 
work,  263-264 ;  publications, 
265. 

Sanitary  department,  Boston, 
197. 

School  district,  Reading,  Pa.,  184. 

School  of  medical  inspection, 
Philadelphia,  217. 

Schools,  Alameda  County,  Cal., 
276,  277;  Akron,  254,  258;  Bos- 
ton, 197,  198,  200;  Cincinnati, 
223;  Columbus,  169;  Dayton, 
237 ;  Denver,  258 ;  Detroit,  266 ; 
Milwaukee,  240;  New  York 
City,  181 ;  Philadelphia,  216, 
219;  Toronto,  257;  Michigan, 
335;  Nebraska,  338;  Virginia, 
157;  district  supervision  of, 
Boston,  199;  expenditures  for, 
compared  with  other  Ameri- 
can cities,  Boston,  200;  spe- 
cial departments  in,  Boston, 
199;  budget  for,  Chicago,  204; 
rural,  Wisconsin,  189. 

Secretary  of  State,  office  of,  Col- 
orado, 154. 

Senators,  (U.  S.)  nomination 
and  election  of,  342, 

Service  records,  101. 

Service  requirements,  standardi- 
zation of,  New  York  City,  182. 

Sewage  disposal,  Akron,  251. 

Sewers,  Chicago,  201 ;  Dayton, 
235 ;  Detroit,  266. 

Shell-fish  commission,  Connecti- 
cut, 150;  abolition  of,  New  Jer- 
sey, 116,  117,  118. 

Shell  fisheries,  New  Jersey,  117, 
119. 

Sheriff's  Office,  Cook  County, 
111.,  228,  229;  Philadelphia,  219. 

Signal  Corps,  office  of,  handling 
correspondence  in,  98. 

Sinking  fund  bonds,  conversion 
of,  Massachusetts,  124. 

Sinking  funds,  Boston,  197;  Day- 


388 


ton,  235 ;  New  York  State,  127, 
185. 

Snow  removal,  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
263. 

Social  service  department,  Ohio, 
1 68,  170. 

Social  welfare  department,  Den- 
ver, 258. 

Soldiers'  relief  department,  Bos- 
ton, 198. 

Solicitor  of  Internal  Revenue, 
office  of,  70,  72. 

South  Dakota  Division  of  Leg- 
islative Reference,  history  and 
work,  346;  publications,  347. 

South  Dakota  Joint  Committee 
on  Investigation  of  State  Ex- 
penditures and  the  System  of 
Accounting  and  Reporting, 
work  of,  161. 

Special  assessments,  accounting 
system  for,  Chicago,  201. 

Springfield  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  history  and  work, 
247-248;  publications,  249. 

State  administration,  agencies 
for  investigating,  official,  114- 
161 ;  unofficial,  162-166. 

State  and  local  administration, 
unofficial  agencies  for  investi- 
gating, 167-172. 

State  Board  of  Contract  and 
Supply,  New  York  State,  128. 

State  Board  of  Estimates,  New 
York  State,  128. 

State  Constitution,  New  York, 
187,  188. 

State  fairs,  Iowa,  148. 

State  Forester,  Department  of, 
Massachusetts,  124. 

State  Government  from  Point  of 
View  of  Administrative  Law, 
by  Frank  J.  Goodnow,  186. 

State  government,  organization 
of,  Alabama,  151 ;  Connecticut, 
149;  Iowa,  147,  149;  Kansas, 
150;  Louisiana,  157;  Massa- 
chusetts, 296;  Minnesota,  144, 
145,  146,  147;  New  York,  126, 
127,  130,  131,  132,  177,  184-189; 
Oregon,  159;  Virginia,  155, 
156;  administration  of,  Colo- 
rado, 152,  154,  Texas,  158; 


INDEX 


work  and  financial  administra- 
tion of  departments,  Illinois, 
135-138,  142,  Massachusetts, 
119,  123,  Pennsylvania,  133; 
cost  of,  Illinois,  332;  consoli- 
dation of  departments,  New 
Jersey,  116,  118,  119. 

State  Highway  Department,  or- 
ganization of,  New  York,  132. 

State  insurance,  Virginia,  156. 

State  library,  Illinois,  143;  Ohio, 
169. 

State  militia,  business  adminis- 
tration of,  Massachusetts,  123. 

State  police,  Connecticut,  150; 
New  Jersey,  164,  165;  New 
York,  165;  Pennsylvania,  164, 
165;  problem  of,  in  America, 
165. 

Stationery,  New  York  State,  127. 

Statistical  work,  Bureau  of  In- 
sular Affairs  (1913),  98. 

Statistics  Department,  Boston, 
197. 

Street  railroads,  valuation  of, 
Cincinnati,  223. 

Streets,  Akron,  252;  Boston,  197, 
198,  199;  Chicago,  200,  201, 
203,  228;  Cincinnati,  220,  221, 
223;  Dayton,  232;  Milwaukee, 
240,  241 ;  New  York,  N.  Y., 
306;  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  261 ;  To- 
ronto, 256. 

Subtreasuries,  work  performed 
by,  no,  112;  plan  to  consoli- 
date with  federal  reserve 
banks,  112. 

Subtreasury  system,  history  of, 
112. 

Suffrage  laws,  Rhode  Island,  346. 

Superannuation  of  civil  service 
employees,  U.  S.  Government 
(1908),  80,  82. 

Supervising  Architect's  Office, 
reorganization  of  (1895),  70, 

73- 

Supervisor  of  Administration, 
Massachusetts,  creation  of  of- 
fice of,  122. 

Supplies,  purchase  of,  U.  S.  Gov- 
ernment, 68,  71,  76,  82,  100; 
Westchester  County,  N.  Y., 
274,  275,  Boston,  199,  for 


389 


schools.  New  York  City,  210, 
institutional,  Maryland,  171, 
office,  New  York  State,  127; 
standardization  of,  Cincinnati, 
221,  New  York  City,  305,  Illi- 
nois, 135,  143. 

Surety  Bonds,  elimination  of,  Co- 
lumbus, O.,  169. 

Surgeon  General,  Office  of,  hand- 
ling correspondence  in,  (1913), 
98. 

Surveys,  scientific,  Illinois,  143. 

Swamp  lands,  drainage  and  recla- 
mation of,  Indiana,  332. 

System  of  Financial  Administra- 
tion of  Great  Britain,  The,  by 
Wm.  F.  Willoughby,  Westel 
W.  Willoughby,  Samuel  Mc- 
Cune  Lindsay,  43. 

Taft,  William  H.,  President's 
Commission  on  Economy  and 
Efficiency  created  by,  84-85; 
The  Federal  Government  as  an 
Example,  186. 

Taxation,  Westchester  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  274,  275;  Akron,  254;  Bos- 
ton, 199;  Dayton,  237;  Marion, 
169;  Milwaukee,  239;  Michi- 
gan, 336;  New  Jersey,  117,  119; 
Pennsylvania,  344 ;  Virginia, 
349;  of  trust  companies,  351. 

Tax  commission,  Colorado,  154. 

Tax  revision  board,  217,  220. 

Teachers'  Pension  Systems  in 
the  United  States,  by  Paul  Stu- 
densky,  43. 

Teachers'  retirement  systems, 
New  Jersey,  165. 

Telephone  service,  Cincinnati, 
221 ;  interdepartmental,  75,  82. 

Tenement  house  inspection,  Phil- 
adelphia, 217. 

Tenement  house  legislation,  351; 
New  Jersey,  118,  119;  New 
York  City,  181. 

Tennessee  State  Budget  Commis- 
sion, history  and  work  of,  298. 

Texas  Joint  Legislative  Inves- 
tigating Committee,  history 
and  work,  158;  publications, 
158. 

Texas  Legislative  Reference  Sec- 


INDEX 


tion,    history    and    work,    363; 
publications,  364. 
Text-book  laws,  state,  digest  of, 

Text-books,  cost  of  providing, 
New  York  State,  130,  131. 

Titles,  standardization  of,  New 
York  State,  178. 

Toledo  Public  Research  Bureau; 
Toledo  Commerce  Club,  his- 
tory and  work  of,  266. 

Toronto  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  history  and  work, 
255-256;  publications,  257. 

Torrens  system,  New  York  City, 
184;  Nebraska,  338. 

Town  government,  organization 
of  Hempstead,  No.  Hempstead 
and  Oyster  Bay,  N.  Y.,  183. 

Township     laws,     Pennsylvania, 

Traction  ordinance,  Cincinnati, 
223. 

Trading  with  the  enemy,  356. 

Training  for  municipal  service, 
1 86. 

Training  for  public  service,  186, 
189;  Akron,  252. 

Training  School  for  Public  Serv- 
ice, 175. 

Transfer  of  flag,  356. 

Transportation  accounts,  govern- 
ment employees,  77,  82. 

Travel  expenditures,  government 
employees,  96. 

Treasurer,  office  of,  Colorado, 
154;  Cook  Co.,  111.,  225,  228, 
229. 

Treasury  Department,  commis- 
sion on  business  methods  in, 
61,  64. 

Trees,  Dayton,  237. 

Tuberculosis,  349,  352. 

Tuberculosis  Commission,  Con- 
necticut, 150. 

Twelfth  census  report  on  agricul- 
ture, 76,  82. 

Typesetting  machines,  purchase 
of,  74,  81. 

Unemployment,  Akron,  252. 
Unexpended  balances,  New  York 
State,  127. 


University  of  Wisconsin,  290. 

U.  S.  executive  departments,  bus- 
iness methods  of,  107. 

U.  S.  executive  departments  and 
other  government  establish- 
ments, laws  organizing  and 
regulating  compensation  and 
employment,  etc.,  71. 

U.  S.  government,  business  con- 
ditions in  executive  depart- 
ments, 72;  organization  of,  95, 
96,  1 01 ;  methods  of  appoint- 
ment in,  95;  accounting  sys- 
tem, 96;  business  methods,  99, 
107. 

U.  S.  Treasury,  law  organizing 
accounting  offices,  96. 

Vacation  allowances,  Massachu- 
setts, 123. 

Vacations,  laborers,  Boston,  199. 

Vagrancy,  laws  relating  to, 
33<5. 

Vermont  Legislative  Reference 
Bureau,  history  and  work,  347; 
publications,  348. 

Veto  power,  Nebraska,  338;  in 
the  states,  346. 

Virginia  Commission  on  Econo- 
my and  Efficiency,  history  and 
work,  154;  publications,  156. 

Virginia  Legislative  Reference 
Bureau,  history  and  work,  348 ; 
publications,  349. 

Vital  statistics,  Philadelphia,  217. 

Vocational  education,  Boston, 
200. 

Voting,  compulsory,  342;  absent, 
342,  356. 

Voting  machines,  Chicago,  228, 
283. 

Wages,  exemption  of,  351. 

War  Department,  business  meth- 
ods, 61,  64. 

War  equipment,  outline  for  clas- 
sification and  codification  of, 
99. 

Ward  organization,  Milwaukee, 
239;  Minneapolis,  245. 

Warrants,  U.  S.  Treasury,  pro* 
posed  change  in  form  of,  72. 

Warwick,     Walter     W.,     mem- 


390 


INDEX 


ber,  President's  Commission  on 
Economy  and  Efficiency,  86. 

Waste  paper,  recovery  of  in  U.  S. 
government,  99. 

Water  mains,  Yonkers,  268,  269. 

Water  pipes,  electrolysis  of,  Chi- 
cago, 228. 

Water  rates,  Akron,  252. 

Water  resources,  administration 
of,  Illinois,  143. 

Water  revenues,  collection  of, 
New  York  City,  180. 

Water  supply,  Akron,  251,  255; 
Boston,  197,  198,  199;  Chicago, 
201,  228,  230;  Dayton,  232,  236; 
Milwaukee,  206;  Yonkers,  269. 

Weights  and  measures,  Balti- 
more, 171;  Dayton,  233;  Phil- 
adelphia, 216. 

Westchester  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Research 
Bureau,  history  and  work,  272- 
274;  publications,  275. 

West  Virginia  Legislative  Refer- 
ence Section,  history  and 
work  of,  349. 

Widows'  pensions,  New  York 
State,  188;  North  Dakota,  341. 

Willoughby,  William  F.,  member, 


President's  Commission  on 
Economy  and  Efficiency,  86; 
System  of  Financial  Adminis- 
tration of  Great  Britain,  43; 
Problem  of  National  Budget, 
43;  Movement  for  Budgetary 
Reform  in  States,  43. 

Window  envelopes,  use  of,  95,  96. 

Wisconsin  Legislative  Reference 
Department,  history  and  work 
of»  35°  J  publications  of,  351. 

Wisconsin  State  Board  of  Public 
Affairs,  history  and  work  of, 
288,  289;  publications  of, 
290. 

Workhouse,  Akron,  252;  Dayton, 

234- 

Workmen's  compensation,  342 ; 
Illinois,  331;  New  Jersey,  164; 
Rhode  Island,  346. 

Workmen  Compensation  Com- 
mission, Connecticut,  150. 

Wyoming  Bill  Drafting  Commit- 
tee, history  and  work  of,  371. 

Yonkers  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  history  and  work, 
267-268;  publications,  269. 

(1) 


391 


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